Analysis: Brighton remain an impossible rock for Wolves to crack on day of frustration

The Seagulls have frequently been unwelcome visitors to Molineux ever since escaping with a 3-1 victory the first time the two clubs faced off at the ground back in 1979.

All told, Wolves have won just two out of 16 home matches against the ‘other Albion’ and on Saturday it was again the visitors who left the happier of two teams, after a 0-0 draw which boosted their own Premier League survival hopes, while denting Champions League aspirations which had been heightened for the hosts by victory at Tottenham the previous weekend.

With a Europa League trip to Athens on the near horizon, it will take more than one underwhelming result to take the fizz out of a Wolves season still very much alive with promise.

Yet by the final whistle there was no hiding the sense a major opportunity had been missed to at the very least exert pressure on their rivals in the race for a top four finish. It was a feeling further compounded when Chelsea and Manchester United both recorded emphatic wins on Sunday as Wolves lost ground in the chase.

Wolves went into the match knowing victory by two or more goals would have seen them climb to fourth in the table, if only for a few hours.

Instead they rarely looked like scoring even once during a performance which, while perhaps not their poorest of the campaign, was probably the flattest.

It took until the 75th minute for Nuno’s men to finally register an attempt on target and even then Raul Jimenez’s effort, struck while the Mexican striker was falling backwards, was straight at Brighton keeper Mat Ryan.

Aside from a few half-chances and shots which whistled well off target, that was pretty much it on an afternoon which for home supporters was perplexing and maddening in equal measure.

Maybe, on reflection, it was not all that much of a surprise. Brighton’s record at Molineux is one aspect – they have now gone four visits without even conceding a goal.

And though Graham Potter’s side are very much protagonists in the battle at the foot of the table, having failed to win since December, they are nothing if not obdurate having now drawn six of their last nine, a run which also includes creditable points against Chelsea and Sheffield United.

Saturday was their 11th draw of the season yet Wolves are ahead of them in that statistic, having now tied 13 matches, more than any other team in the Premier League aside from Arsenal.

The visitors delivered exactly the kind of performance to which regular observers have become accustomed – good on the ball but rarely ever threatening their opponents’ goal, though in the context of the match the second-half chance Solly March hurriedly fired over the bar ranked as perhaps the best of the whole afternoon.

The trouble was Wolves were equally as laboured in attack and for all this has been another strong campaign, in truth there have been a few too many days like this at Molineux.

Nuno’s men have now won just five out of 15 on their home turf in the Premier League, with the 3-0 win over Norwich still their only three-point haul since the turn of the year.

For a team who find themselves still very much in the thick of the race for the top four it is a surprising statistic and one which, in the long-term, will clearly need to improve.

Nuno perhaps thought he had found the way to crack the division’s lesser lights by reverting to the three-man central midfield utilised against Norwich. But what worked so well against the Canaries was nowhere near so effective against Brighton, who were well-organised and, in the all-action Yves Bissouma, boasted the best player of the day.

Wolves could not find any space with which to develop rhythm, their performance best summed up in the second half when Ruben Neves attempted to find either Diogo Jota or Raul Jimenez with a quick ball over the top and instead missed both by about 20 yards.

The second-half introduction of Adama Traore added a little more impetus but aside from a couple of strong runs the Spanish winger created little of note. Nuno’s decision to then bring on Daniel Podence, instead of the in-form Pedro Neto, was a little surprising.

This was Wolves’ 47th match of the season, one more than they played in the whole of last season and the subject of fatigue was inevitably raised – and inevitably dismissed by Nuno – during the post-match briefings. The subject will continue to be monitored, however, in the weeks ahead. Was Saturday a sign Wolves are finally feeling the cumulative pace of previous exertions? Only time will tell.

Then again, this match was the first in six days for Nuno’s men, a relative age in the context of the campaign. It remains a peculiarity how some of Wolves’ best results – at Manchester City and Tottenham to name two – have been achieved after some of their shortest rest periods.

After the euphoria of victory at Spurs, there was a sense the fixture list was opening up for Wolves, who will play another three straight matches against teams in the bottom six. Saturday served as a reminder none of those fixtures will be straightforward.

Their hopes of a top-four finish are a long way from finished and this point might still, come the end of the season, prove to be a valuable one.

Another clean sheet, their fourth in five matches, was certainly among the positives, even though Brighton didn’t exactly put them under sustained pressure.

Otherwise there was not a huge amount to cheer on a day when Wolves largely failed to answer the bell.