Hodgson: We will continue to fight

Goals by Jermaine Pennant after 16 minutes and Peter Crouch, 20 minutes from time, knocked the stuffing out of Fulham after a lively start against a Champions League-conscious Liverpool side showing eight changes from the team that beat Blackburn last week.

But Hodgson said: "I thought we matched Liverpool - one of the best sides in the country - most of the way. Of course I'm disappointed and I won't make a fool of myself by making outrageous claims, but until it is mathematically impossible for us to stay up we will fight on."

He continued: "We paid for a couple of mistakes at the back when the ball was despatched into our net and we didn't take our own chances.

"But we gave a good account of ourselves and there are still nine points to play for. I certainly don't think we lacked determination or spirit."

Nearly a year ago Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez made nine changes to his Liverpool side at Fulham, who were also fighting relegation at that time as well. The Cottagers defeated Liverpool 1-0 and ultimately survived the drop.

But Benitez defended his decision to take a similar stance again this time around, saying: "I picked a team I believed could win the match. We now need just one more point to ensure fourth place in the league, even if Everton win all their remaining games.

"We've still got to be careful. We needed a good job done here and a good job was done. We can completely focus on Tuesday's Champions League game against Chelsea now.

"We've talked a lot about boardroom matters for a long time, but for now I just want to speak about football, if that's possible.

"We've shown again we have quality and of course there will be some different players against Chelsea - but we can be confident."