Nottingham Forest 0-0 Tottenham
Nottingham Forest and Tottenham played out a goalless draw at City Ground on Saturday. The result leaves both sides at the bottom of the table after three rounds, though the way they got there tells you something different about each team. We had Forest winning at 42 per cent, and here's the thing — the match simply refused to go that way.
Tottenham dominated possession with 59 per cent but could not find a way through. Forest sat deeper, accepted the pressure and looked dangerous on the counter. Neco Williams put them ahead in the 66th minute, only for the goal to be cancelled out by VAR. By then the momentum had shifted, and you could see it in the way Forest stopped pressing and Tottenham began to circle.
Both managers made changes around the hour mark. Forest brought on Ola Aina and Dan Ndoye, while Tottenham introduced Sávio and later Mathys Tel and Liam Delap. Conor Gallagher and Omar Marmoush came on for Spurs in the 84th minute. The substitutions did not change the shape of the game, only the energy inside it.
The numbers tell the same story. Tottenham had 10 corners to Forest's 2 and created two big chances. Their shots accuracy was zero — no ball found the target. Forest had 0.46 expected goals and managed two shots on target. One of them was the one that counted, before it didn't.
Both sides picked up two yellow cards. Udogie and Mcatee went off for Tottenham, Milenković and Fernandes for Forest. The referee kept control, but the tension was there in the small things — a late tackle, a shouted appeal, a corner kick that went nowhere.
Forest remain 16th with two points, drawing their last two after losses to Leeds. Tottenham are 18th with one point, having beaten Charlton but lost to Newcastle and Brentford. Neither side has won yet. The table does not move much in these games, but the feeling inside the stadium was different before and after the goal that was not allowed.
