Manchester City 0 Liverpool 0: Gentle stroll in the sunshine suits everyone but Mourinho

There may be five Premiership fixtures remaining for both Manchester City and Liverpool but yesterday's match had a distinctly end-of-season feel to it that Jose Mourinho would surely have disapproved of.

With two weeks to go before the first leg of the Champions' League semi-final, the mind games have already begun in earnest and, in fairness to the Chelsea manager, it is a safe bet that his team's FA Cup tie against Blackburn later today will be an altogether more competitive affair than this.

With temperatures inside the City of Manchester Stadium raising the mercury to 25 degrees, it seemed as though the players were happy to play at a sedate pace that reflected the relative comfort of their respective League positions.

A goalless draw, it seemed, was a satisfactory result for both teams as City extended their unbeaten run to five games - even though they are still yet to score a home League goal since New Year's Day - and their Merseyside opponents maintained their pursuit of third place. The closest Liverpool came all afternoon was when a Xabi Alonso special from inside his own half dropped the wrong side of the crossbar while City, through their attacking midfielder DaMarcus Beasley, did manage to hit the woodwork, albeit with virtually their only chance of the game.

"We started the game well but didn't take our chances," said Rafael Benitez, the Liverpool manager, who had made the unusual move of strengthening his side for a Premiership match having rested some key players from midweek Champions' League duty. "We know we need to win the points we need [to ensure a top-four finish] as quickly as possible then we can concentrate on the Chelsea games. We got one of them from this game but we wanted three." If the nature of the Liverpool personnel was a statement of positive intent, the actual line-up was not, with two holding players and a full-back deployed in midfield. Steven Gerrard, playing behind Dirk Kuyt, repeatedly found space in the hole between City's midfield and defence in the early stages, but became less involved as the afternoon went on.

For the most part, Liverpool looked much the better side in possession but after winger Jermaine Pennant failed to take an early chance and with Kuyt far from his best, Alonso's audacious effort was the closest they came. With Isaksson struggling to regain his ground, the goalkeeper was delighted to see the ball land on the roof of the net. The fact that Alonso attempted to shoot from such a position, rather than exert further energy running with the ball, rather summed up the game.

The second half offered more of the same until City at least put Liverpool under a semblance of pressure in the latter stages. But the only time they even came close to a goal was with 15 minutes remaining when Beasley seized on a partially cleared corner and sent a curling shot against the crossbar. A winner would have been more than they deserved.

"We're delighted to be five games unbeaten," said Steve Wigley, the City assistant manager. "Earlier in the season our home form was good but we couldn't win away and now it seems to be the reverse. But we scored three times away at Fulham last week so there can't be too much wrong."

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