Wolves 0 Brighton 0 - Report and pictures

Nuno Espirito Santo’s men failed to register a shot on target until the closing stages of an underwhelming affair at Molineux.

Raul Jimenez’s shot straight at Mat Ryan moments after substitute Daniel Podence had seen an effort blocked.

Brighton’s best chance fell to Leandro Trossard but he fired wastefully over the bar from 12 yards out.

Analysis

With Chelsea and Manchester United not in action until Sunday, the point was still enough to move Wolves up to fifth in the table.

But there was no hiding the sense this was a big opportunity missed to put even more pressure on their rivals in the race for Champions League qualification. Victory by two goals or more would have seen Wolves climb up to fourth for at least 24 hours.

Brighton have not won in the Premier League since December 28 and arrived at Molineux just three points above the drop zone.

But by the final whistle Graham Potter’s team were well worth their point, having arguably created the better chances over the course of the 90 minutes.

Wolves, meanwhile, suffered from too many key players experiencing serious off-days.

The second half introduction of Adama Traore added a little more attacking impetus but moments of quality remained thin on the ground.

Nuno made one change to the starting XI from the previous weekend’s victory at Tottenham, Leander Dendoncker restored to the team in place of Traore, who dropped to the bench.

That meant a return to the three-man central midfield utilised a fortnight before in the 3-0 home win over Norwich.

Wolves started promisingly but aside from the odd half-opening struggled to create anything of note in the early stages.

Ruben Neves fired well over first time from 25 yards out after Brighton were guilty of giving away possession deep in their own half, before bursting through the middle and setting up an opportunity which Raul Jimenez poked wide of goal.

It was actually the visitors who had the first effort on target, Davy Propper shooting straight at Rui Patricio from 25 yards out.

Otherwise there was little to shout about in either attacking third of the pitch for the opening half-hour.

Jimenez then nearly woke the crowd up by coming close to the spectacular when he fired a first time volley into the stanchion after Adam Webster was only able to flick a Willy Boly long ball into his path.

Wolves’ best chance of the opening half arguably fell to Neves. Ruben Vinagre and Jota combined to good effect down the left, with the latter picking out Neves in space on the edge of the box. But as the volume inside Molineux began to rise in expectation, the midfielder placed his shot over the bar.

Brighton might have taken the lead early in the second period had Neal Maupay gambled on a tantalising cross from Trossard which instead flashed wide of Patricio’s far post.

Neves had a low shot blocked as the volume levels inside Molineux began to rise and the visiting duo of Dan Burn and Lewis Dunk both found themselves in the book for fouls on Dendoncker and Jimenez respectively.

Nuno introduced Traore with 26 minutes to go but the next big chance fell to Brighton, Solly March hurriedly blazing over from 12 yards out after being picked out by Trossard.

Wolves’ first attempt on target came with 15 minutes remaining, Jimenez shooting straight at Ryan off-balance, after Daniel Podence, just introduced off the bench, had seen an effort blocked.

But that was pretty it from the hosts, until Dendoncker shot over in stoppage time as Wolves searched in vain for a late winner.

Teams

Wolves (3-5-2): Patricio, Boly, Coady (c), Saiss, Doherty, Dendoncker, Neves (Traore 64), Moutinho, Vinagre, Jota (Podence 74), Jimenez Subs not used: Jordao, Neto, Kilman, Buur, Ruddy (gk).

Brighton (4-2-3-1): Ryan, Montoya, Webster, Dunk, Burn, Propper, Bissouma, Mooy (Stephens 88), Trossard (Jahanbakhsh 82), March (Mac Allister 80), Maupay Subs not used: Duffy, Gross, Murray, Button (gk).