FA PREMIER LEAGUE Reading 0 Fulham 2:IT IS NOT Roy Hodgson's way to get ahead of himself. After this vital victory, over a Reading team which had been unspeakably awful, the Fulham manager denied he felt "upbeat" and insisted there was still a "mountain to climb" before Premier League safety could be reached. "If we continue to play like that, we would have cause to believe that our task is not quite impossible," he said.

The conspiracy theorists, though, are not quite so measured. They remember how Fulham escaped the drop last season and, all of a sudden, the parallels are falling into place. Last May, in the penultimate league fixture, Liverpool visited Craven Cottage, preoccupied by the Champions League, having edged past Chelsea in the semi-final. Rafael Benitez made nine changes to his starting line-up and Fulham won 1-0, en route to survival by one point.

This time Liverpool visit on Saturday, with four games to play but, once again, they are consumed by the Champions League. They entertain Chelsea at Anfield in the first leg of the semi-final three days afterwards and it is inconceivable that Benitez will not rest key players against Fulham.

The ethics of Benitez's team selection at such a sensitive stage of the season stirred debate and recriminations.

"I didn't actually know some of the players," said Neil Warnock, the Sheffield United manager, who would ultimately be relegated while his Wigan counterpart, Paul Jewell, felt that "for the good of the game, the integrity of the game, resting nine players cannot be right".

Hope springs for Fulham, though, and once again the Liverpool game represents a potential springboard to safety. They also have Birmingham at home in their run-in while they finish at Portsmouth, who by then may have their minds on the FA Cup final against Cardiff.

Hodgson noted the importance of Brian McBride's early goal here - Fulham had only once scored first in a game in the previous three months - and the passing football which he has preached since he succeeded Lawrie Sanchez at the turn of the year got its reward.

Fulham ought to have been more comfortable but the woodwork denied them three times before the substitute Erik Nevland scored his first for the club.

Kevin Doyle's 42nd-minute header apart, when the striker should have scored, Reading created nothing.

They were second best in every area and too many players hid. They seemed paralysed by the moment.

Guardian Service