A trio of defeats for Martin O'Neill's Sunderland leaves them just five points above the bottom three heading into the final 11 games of the Premier League season.
A lack of goals has been Sunderland's Achilles heel throughout the season, with Steven Fletcher their top scorer on 10, but he has netted just twice in the last 10 games.
Danny Graham was brought in from Swansea during the January transfer window and is still to open his account for the Wearsiders, having made just one start and two substitute appearances.
Fulham, who head to the North East on the back of their 1-0 home success against Stoke, remain poor travellers in the Premier League having won just twice away from Craven Cottage this season.
The reverse fixture in London earlier this season ended in a 3-1 victory for the visitors, but that was Sunderland's only success against Fulham in their last seven Premier League meetings.
Sunderland will be without captain Lee Cattermole and on-loan defender Danny Rose when they face Fulham at the Stadium of Light.
Combative midfielder Cattermole is facing several weeks on the sidelines after having an injection in a bid to resolve the knee injury which has restricted him to just 14 appearances this term.
Left-back Rose, who missed the West Brom defeat after aggravating a hamstring injury against Arsenal, will not feature but could come back into contention for the trip to QPR next weekend.
Fellow midfielders Kerim Frei and Kieran Richardson have recovered from their respective pelvis and calf injuries but Mahamadou Diarra (knee) is out.
The Black Cats found themselves two-down inside 35-minutes courtesy of a Dimitar Berbatov and a first goal in English football for German international full-back Sascha Riether.
But the home side battled back and soon pulled one back via their own spot-kick with Craig Gardner slotting home, before finally levelling matters with 20-minutes left as Man of the Match Stephane Sessegnon drilled the ball home from the edge of the box.
The draw brings an end Sunderland's terrible run of three successive defeats, whilst the point puts Fulham into the top-half.
Sunderland had started the game well and threatened inside the opening minute as John O'Shea headed a corner wide, and it was the home side's wide-men Adam Johnson and Stephane Sessegnon who looked a threat.
But it was Fulham's counter-attacking which hit Sunderland hard and they were suddenly two-up within the opening 35-minutes.
The opener came as Dimitar Berbatov fed Ashkan Dejagah in the box - he looked to take on Craig Gardner, who clipped the Iranian - it took referee Mark Halsey a little longer than normal but he did point to the spot. Berbatov stepped to slot home in his archetypal cool manner.
Dejagah then spurned a great chance on the half-hour to make it 2-0 as he broke clear, but just minutes later he created the second.
A Sunderland corner was headed away by Berbatov, Dejagah broke at pace and exchanged passes with Ruiz before firing a cross into the six-yard box - Mignolet could only parry and an unmarked Riether was on hand to convert his first-ever goal for the club.
The Sunderland fans were furious, but they were buoyed just seconds later when they found themselves back in the game via their own penalty. Philippe Senderos pulled back Danny Graham in the box - he surprisingly avoided any card, but Gardner stepped up to fire home.
Graham then wasted a glorious chance just minutes after the re-start when he fired straight at Mark Schwarzer after the ball fell for him just ten-yards from goal.
Johnson and Sessegnon continued to be the home side's main threat and they were both involved as Sunderland levelled with 20-minutes left.
Fulham almost produced a goal of the season contender as Damien Duff, John Arne Riise and Ruiz combined, who in-turn lobbed a brilliant ball to Berbatov - whose shot was saved by Mignolet. Sunderland countered through Sessegnon, he fed Johnson - whose cross deflected off Senderos and into the path of his team-mate, who drilled the ball home from the edge of the box.
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