Nottingham Forest missed a big opportunity to ease their relegation fears after being held to a frustrating 0-0 draw by bottom-placed Wolves at the City Ground on Wednesday.
Sean Dyche’s side could have moved level on points with Tottenham, who had earlier parted ways with Thomas Frank, but a wasteful display in front of goal left them hovering above the drop zone.
Forest started brightly and should have taken the lead early on, but captain Morgan Gibbs-White headed Elliot Anderson’s cross into the side netting.
The home side continued to create chances, with Lorenzo Lucca guilty of a glaring miss as he blasted over from close range after Callum Hudson-Odoi sparked a six-on-one counter-attack.
The hosts were booed off at half-time and nearly found a breakthrough shortly after the restart, only for Morato to glance Omari Hutchinson’s delivery wide of the far post.
Wolves goalkeeper José Sá proved the hero late on, producing two outstanding close-range saves. He first denied Igor Jesus before somehow clawing Morato’s follow-up effort away from the goal line.
Rob Edwards’ side nearly stole a rare victory in stoppage time, but Mateus Mane was unable to beat Stefan Ortega with the final chance of the game.
Before kick-off, Edwards had claimed the pressure was firmly on Forest because of their position above the relegation zone, and his team responded by grinding out a valuable point.
Forest dominated the statistics, registering 35 shots and an expected goals (xG) figure of 2.73, the highest total by a team that failed to score in a Premier League match since Manchester United managed 38 shots in a 0-0 draw with Burnley in October 2016.
Sá’s performance was central to Wolves’ resilience, as his 10 saves marked only the fourth time a Wolves goalkeeper has reached double figures in a Premier League game.
The others were Paul Jones against Middlesbrough in April 2004, Wayne Hennessey against Liverpool in January 2012, and Sá himself against Liverpool in May 2024.
The result also ended Wolves’ 14-match run without an away clean sheet in the league and marked their first goalless draw on the road since a stalemate at Brighton in January 2024.
