Liverpool FC 0–0 Tottenham Hotspur on 27 August 2003

Liverpool's miserable start to the season continued with a goalless draw against a well-organised Spurs side.

Gerard Houllier picked an attacking side, leaving Danny Murphy on the bench and playing Michael Owen, Harry Kewell, El-Hadji Diouf, Milan Baros and Vladimir Smicer.

But the home team struggled to create clear-cut chances and have yet to score from open play this season, collecting just two points from three games.

Steven Gerrard did force a good save from Kasey Keller, but Jerzy Dudek was called upon several times to prevent the visitors from registering a rare win at Anfield.

Anthony Gardner, Ledley King and Dean Richards formed a very effective back three for Spurs, who registered their first clean sheet in the Premiership since January.

With so many forward-minded players, Liverpool started the match at a furious pace, but the visitors were not ruffled and soon started to create chances.

Helder Postiga fired over from 25 yards before Rohan Ricketts burst through from midfield, forcing Dudek to make a sharp one-handed save.

The rebound fell towards Zamora, who laid the ball into Stephen Carr's path only for the Spurs defender to drill his shot wide.

Spurs continued to push forward with verve and invention, Postiga forcing another save from Dudek.

A cleverly worked corner then saw Richards head the ball towards Gardner, but the defender missed the target from six yards.

In stark contrast, Liverpool's forward line struggled against Tottenham's well marshalled three-man central defence.

Smicer shot straight at Kasey Keller early in the second half and Sami Hyypia put the ball in the Spurs net only for his effort to be ruled out for a foul on Richards.

Mauricio Taricco went close to scoring in consecutive games with a powerful strike that narrowly missed the target.

Spurs boss Glenn Hoddle then introduced Saturday's match-winner Frederic Kanoute for Zamora - and the Frenchman showed some delightful touches.

But it was Gerrard who almost broke the deadlock with a stunning drive from 18 yards that Keller did exceptionally well to save.

Shortly before full-time, Liverpool won a free-kick in a dangerous position, but substitute Murphy could not find the target.

It was symptomatic of his team's night.