Wolves were held to a goalless draw by Brighton & Hove Albion at Molineux for the second season running. A contest low on chances saw Wolves fail to break down the Seagulls, with Matt Ryan not truly tested between the sticks for the visitors.
Leander Dendoncker blazed the best of the chances over the bar as the game entered injury time, but nevertheless, Wolves will look at another Premier League clean sheet as a positive and quickly turn their attentions back to the Europa League after their Molineux stalemate.
It was Wolves who’d started on the front foot and both Ruben Neves and Raul Jimenez fired early warning signs off target. As for the Seagulls, in need of points to boost their survival hopes, they had Davy Propper shoot straight at Rui Patricio from range in the opening exchanges.
In truth, what followed during the first-half was low on incident, with neither side carving out a clear-cut chance. Wolves’ best hopes came through the industrial Diogo Jota, who is a man in form, but when he found Neves lurking on the edge of the box, his compatriot put too much height on his effort.
Half-time: Wolves 0 Brighton 0
The opening to the second period continued in the same manner from both sides, with Yves Bissouma dragged an effort wide for Albion. Meanwhile, Wolves were finding Brighton difficult to break down, so Nuno Espirito Santo released Adama Traore off the bench for Neves with around 25 minutes remaining.
Despite the change, the visitors registered the next shot after Willy Boly uncharacteristically gave the ball away, but Solly March blazed over from Leandro Trossard’s pass. Then, with no chances being created by his team, Nuno introduced Daniel Podence for Jota.
The Portuguese almost made an instant impact too. After a typically mazy run by Traore, which took him into the box, the ball fell to Podence, but his effort was kept out by a flying Lewis Dunk block, before Jimenez hit the rebound straight at Ryan on the turn.
As the game entered injury time, there’d be one big chance for the hosts which they couldn’t take. The build-up saw Traore, Podence and Matt Doherty all combine, before Jimenez set up Dendoncker, but the Belgian blazed over the bar to sum up an afternoon of frustration for Wolves.
Full-time: Wolves 0 Brighton 0
Wolves: Patricio, Doherty, Boly, Coady, Saiss, Vinagre, Neves (Traore 64), Moutinho, Dendoncker, Jota (Podence 74), Jimenez.
Unused subs: Ruddy, Kilman, Buur, Jordao, Neto.
Brighton: Ryan, Montoya, Dunk, Webster, Burn, Bissouma, Propper, Trossard (Jahanbakhsh 82), Mooy (Stephens 89), March (Mac Allister 80), Maupay.
Unused subs: Button, Duffy, Gross, Murray.
