What better way to puncture the Barclays Premier League’s overweening self-regard and plans for global domination than another turgid encounter between Chelsea and Liverpool? Their eighteenth meeting in 3½years took what was already an attritional rivalry to new depths, the most entertaining moment of an utterly forgettable afternoon coming when Mike Riley, the referee, was upended by a loose pass from Javier Mascherano in the second half. No one in their right mind would so much as cross the road to watch a rerun of this particular fixture.

The boos that sounded around the stadium after the final whistle provided an eloquent expression of the views of the home team’s fans, who are worried that their side are faltering when it matters most.

After winning five straight league matches, Chelsea have taken only two points from their past two, while Manchester United have also been dropping points. Chelsea will be in the unfamiliar position of being eight points behind the leaders if Arsenal beat Blackburn Rovers this evening. Such a result would leave Liverpool 19 points off the pace, although a more relevant figure for Rafael Benítez is the three-point gap to fourth-placed Everton, which is the summit of their ambition even if they will still have a game in hand.

Of greater concern to Chelsea is their continued failure to beat their big four rivals under Avram Grant, who has seen only one point from three matches against Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool. The Israeli was partially justified in attributing a strangely lacklustre performance to fatigue among a squad diminished by injuries and the African Cup of Nations, although as his options increased yesterday with Frank Lampard’s recovery from a thigh strain and John Obi Mikel’s return from Ghana duty, it will also raise fresh doubts over his leadership.

Managerial reputations are earned by performances under pressure in big matches. A surprising Champions League win away over Valencia has been Grant’s only real result of note and even that achievement has been diminished by the Spanish team’s implosion this season.

Grant was on safer ground when asserting that his team should have had a penalty when Joe Cole went down under the challenge of Mascherano midway through the first half — Riley waved play on despite being well placed — but they did little else to deserve a victory. José Manuel Reina did not have a save to make, the Spain goalkeeper’s only nervous moment coming when John Arne Riise chose to direct a diving header towards him as he dealt with Florent Malouda’s cross towards the end.

Chelsea mustered only one attempt on goal during the match, Michael Ballack’s volley floating narrowly wide of the far post from Ashley Cole’s cross ten minutes from the end. Liverpool were marginally more impressive and could at least celebrate the small milestone of securing a first league point against one of the big four away from home under Benítez, although their performance revealed more about their limitations.

A more accomplished team would have taken advantage of Chelsea’s off day to inflict their first home defeat for four years, but the visiting side created too little to have any complaints about the result.

Benítez clings to conservatism like a crutch, which could prove to be his undoing. The Liverpool manager’s team selections are regarded with bemusement by many observers, including several of his players, but at least the Spaniard is prepared to admit when he has erred.

With Liverpool devoid of width — largely because they had three wingers on the bench — Benítez made a change in the thirteenth minute, Dirk Kuyt and Gerrard swapping positions so that the captain was deployed behind Peter Crouch at the head of an attacking midfield three supported by Lucas Leiva and Mascherano.

Gerrard is far more comfortable centrally and helped the visiting team to take control of a dour midfield battle without producing enough quality to win the match.

Liverpool were helped no end by a strangely subdued performance by Chelsea, with Ballack anonymous, Lampard lacking match fitness on his first start for six weeks and Shaun Wright-Phillips reverting to his bad old ways after being moved to the right. Other than their manager’s repeated tinkering, Liverpool did little out of the ordinary, but if Fernando Torres had not been absent with a torn hamstring they might have won.

Crouch missed three chances in the first half that the Spain striker would surely have dispatched, shooting wide with his left foot, heading straight at Petr Cech from close range and flashing another header well wide. The first opportunity was the best and sprang from one of the match’s few moments of quality, with Crouch flicking Riise’s long pass on to Ryan Babel, who gave it back to him, but the England striker failed to produce an accurate finish. And that was that.

Crouch tried to claim afterwards that they were half-chances, but they were as good as it got and would have been taken by a striker of true international class. If Richard Scudamore, the Premier League chief executive, succeeds in making £100 million for the clubs from matches such as this, his next job should be selling snow to Eskimos.

Chelsea

4-3-3

P Cech 5

J Belletti Y 5

Alex Y 5

R Carvalho Y 5

A Cole 5

M Ballack 5

C Makelele 6

F Lampard 5

S Wright-Phillips 4

N Anelka 5

J Cole 5

Substitutes: F Malouda 5 (for Wright-Phillips, 64min), J Obi Mikel (for Lampard, 71), C Pizarro (for J Cole, 86) Not used: C Cudicini, T Ben Haim. Next: West Ham (a).

Liverpool

4-4-2

J M Reina 5

S Finnan 5

J Carragher 6

M Skrtel 4

J A Riise Y 5

S Gerrard 6

Lucas Leiva 5

J Mascherano 6

R Babel Y 5

P Crouch 5

D Kuyt 5

Substitutes J Pennant (for Babel, 72min) Not used: C Itandje, H Kewell, Y Benayoun, M San José Dominguez. Next: Middlesbrough (h).

Referee M Riley

Attendance 41,788