Newcastle booed off after dismal draw against Fulham

Rafa Benitez's side were held to a goalless draw by Fulham, the Premier League's basement club.

Claudio Ranieri's side hadn't kept a clean sheet in the league before their arrival at St James's Park. However, they comfortably saw off Newcastle, who didn't have a shot on target over the 90 minutes.

The result left United, with just two home wins all season, 15th in the league ahead of the Boxing Day game against title-chasingLiverpool at Anfield.

Benitez, Newcastle's manager, had made two changes, replacing Kenedy and Ciaran Clark with Matt Ritchie and Paul Dummett.

Aleksandar Mitrovic led the line for Fulham, and there were boos every time the former United striker touched the ball.

Newcastle started slowly, and their first real chance came in the 19th minute when Ki Sung-yueng, playing his last club game before joining South Korea ahead of the Asian Cup, lofted a free-kick to Jamaal Lascelles.

Lascelles headed the ball across the face of goal, and Denis Odoi cleared it before Ayoze Perez could finish at the far post.

Otherwise, chances were few and far between, though United showed a bit more urgency later in the half, and Newcastle had a penalty appeal waved away before the break after a deflected shot from Ritchie appeared to strike Calum Chambers' hand in the box.

United fans tried to rouse their team in the second half, and Benitez's players responded.

Fulham retreated deeper into their own half, but they still comfortably dealt with everything that Newcastle threw at them, despite having the worst defensive record in the league.

Kenedy was sent on with 20 minutes left on the clock – he replaced Christian Atsu – and Fabian Schar headed over a from a corner in the 74th minute.

United had another penalty appeal waved away after a tug from Joe Bryan brought down Kenedy in the box.

Referee Martin Atkinson also waved play on when captain Jamaal Lascelles seemingly blocked a late shot from Mitrovic with his arm at the other end of the pitch.

And there were a few boos when Atkinson called time on the game.

NEWCASTLE UNITED: Dubravka; Manquillo (Yedlin, 84), Lascelles, Schar, Dummett; Diame, Ki; Ritchie, Perez, Atsu (Kenedy, 71); Rondon. Subs not used: Woodman, Fernandez, Hayden, Muto, Joselu.

FULHAM: Rico; Odoi, Chambers, Mawson, Ream, Bryan, Christie, Cairney (Ayite, 81), Seri, Schurrle (Kamara, 76), Mitrovic. Subs not used: Bettinelli, McDonald, Johansen, Vietto, Le Marchand.

Bookings: Kamara 84, Kenedy 89

Referee: Martin Atkinson (West Yorkshire)

Attendance: 51,237