A West London derby that could have turbo-charged either side’s hopes of a place in European competition ultimately fell flat at the Gtech Community Stadium.
Brentford, now on five successive league draws for the first time since 1957, missed a chance to leapfrog Chelsea for sixth place while Fulham stayed 12th pending later fixtures after a game they really needed to win.
Only six points separate Chelsea (48) and Newcastle United (42) in 14th place, with Brentford and Fulham (45) having five matches remaining and most of their rivals still with a game in hand and everything to play for.
Brentford, now level on points with Chelsea but with an inferior goal difference, could have nicked the three points but for Leno’s brilliant effort in keeping out Dango Ouattara as the clock ticked into stoppage time.
Leno had not had much to keep him busy until then, with Brentford mustering only two shots on target in the first half hour and their Brazilian top scorer Igor Thiago having a quiet afternoon after an early header went wide, but the German earned his pay with a man-of-the-match save.
“I think those moments in the last minute, the last moment of the game, are always the best,” he told TNT Sports. “When I saw all my mates come over to me, it was a good moment. It was important for us because I think we deserved a point for that.”
Brentford manager Keith Andrews felt his side would have won but was pleased at least with a clean sheet and hopes of a first European campaign for the club very much intact.
“I think we’re on a really exciting journey. The way we approach everything is in a fearless way,” said the Irishman, whose predecessor Thomas Frank was watching from the stands. “We approach every game to look to win it.
“Unfortunately we haven’t been able to do that as consistently recently as we would have liked but we’ve set the bar high and I don’t mind that.”
Fulham’s influential midfielder Alex Iwobi limped off injured five minutes before the break, a cause for some initial concern for manager Marco Silva.
“He is not feeling so painful right now. It doesn’t look like a serious, serious hamstring injury,” he said. “Let’s hope we are not going to lose him until the end of the season because he is so, so important for us.”