Luis Suarez returned from his eight match suspension for racially abusing Patrice Evra but failed to inspire the home side as Liverpool and Tottenham played out a goalless draw at a foggy Anfield.
With Andy Carroll and Dirk Kuyt at last looking like they could be forging a workable striking partnership for the Reds, Suarez was named on the bench by manager Kenny Dalglish for the visit of Tottenham whose own boss Harry Redknapp was forced to miss the match after his plane was grounded in London.
Despite the huge anticipation created by Suarez’ return and the good form that both sides have shown since Christmas, the first half of this encounter was a fairly dull affair. Liverpool dominated possession, with Kuyt and Spearing both going close but failing to trouble Brad Friedel in the Tottenham goal.
While both sides played some neat stuff between the penalty boxes, the final ball was lacking and it took fully half an hour for the first proper strike on target when Reina needed two attempts to gather Nico Kranjcar’s long range effort. Until then the only highlight had been an unexpected hold up in proceedings after a cat somehow managed to find its way onto the pitch.
Fortunately the second half was a far livelier affair, with Bale going close with a low shot just after the restart and Friedel forced to tip over a long range effort from Kelly. Bale was booked not long after for shoving Agger who had reacted angrily to what he saw as a dive after the winger had kicked the ball too far ahead of himself.
The biggest cheer of the night came on 68 minutes as Suarez replaced Kuyt and the Uruguayan made an immediate impact by winning a corner which Carroll headed straight at Friedel. He then earned himself a yellow card after kicking Scott Parker in the chest while attempting a volley from close range.
In a frantic last ten minutes Suarez headed a Gerrard free-kick straight at Friedel and Downing blazed a shot over as the home side pressed for what would have been a deserved winner.
However, Tottenham almost won it a couple of minutes from time, but Reina got down well to save with his legs after Bale was put through by Kranjcar.