Tottenham Hotspur (H) 05/09/26

Nottingham Forest 0-0 Tottenham Hotspur

In hope of picking up their first 3 points of the season, both Forest and Spurs faced off at the City Ground. The Reds have had much joy in this fixture, winning the last 4 meetings and tallying up a score of 9-1 on aggregate. Could Forest make it 5 in a row or would the visitors finally get some glory?

Forest started the season with back-to-back defeats at home to Leeds, in the league and Carabao Cup. However, last weekend, things took a more positive turn as Glasner’s side picked up their first point of the season in a 2-2 draw at Anfield. Despite taking the lead twice, it was a much improved performance from his side. Hoping to continue with this and get his 4^th win over Spurs as a manger, the Austrian named only one change as Delap came in for his first start for the club, replacing Igor Jesus. Although Spurs spent over £300 million in the transfer window, their performances on the pitch haven’t showed much improvement from last season. They have conceded 5 goals in the opening 2 games whilst scoring none themselves against Brentford and Newcastle respectively, leaving them with no points on the board as of yet. Looking to change this, Roberto De Zerbi named 3 changes to his starting XI as Udogie, Gallagher and Savio came in for Robertson, Fernandes and Gray.

The opening 15 minutes were scrappy, with neither side playing much free-flowing football. Forest had to see off Spurs’ corner after Spurs’ corner which they did. The visitors were slightly the better side and nearly found an opener to show for it. Forest had a free kick which they didn’t make the most of and Spurs looked to hit them on the counter. Marmoush made a run down the middle which was spotted by Porro. He managed to get past Williams and bare down on goal, one-on-one with Sels (who was making his 100^th appearance for Forest). He decided to pull the trigger just inside the box, looking to slot it into the bottom left corner but the ball rolled narrowly wide. The goal wouldn’t have counted as the referee judged him to have barged Williams but the Egyptian should’ve done better to give VAR something to think about.

The hosts grew more into the game at the half an hour mark and almost got themselves in front through an unlikely source. Gibbs-White had the ball on the left and found the overlapping run of Williams. Once he reached the byline, he lofted it into the box but it was cleared by Udogie. The headed clearance only landed as far as Cunha on the edge of the box. He took a touch to bring it down before running onto it and striking it on the half volley. Unfortunately, it flew just over the crossbar. Forest continued the push for a lead going into the break but an opportunity was wasted by Gibbs-White. From deep in his own half, Murillo found Delap in the Spurs’ half with a lovely pass. The striker turned and played in Gibbs-White who was making a run down the left, one-on-one with Kinsky. He cut inside to make the angle more central before shooting from the edge of the box but the ‘keeper rushed out and made himself big to deny the Englishman. The linesman originally flagged for offside but on replay, it’s a tight one to call.

In the first moments of the second half, Forest had to endure a period of sustained Spurs’ pressure. They came close in this spell as Savio whipped in a corner from the right. Sels came to punch it clear but Van de Ven got there first but his header at the near post bounced just wide. To help get his side ticking in this second half, Glasner turned to his bench at the hour mark to bring on Jesus and Munoz. This sparked Forest into life as they started to get forward into good areas. They thought they had taken the lead but VAR had other ideas. Gibbs-White was making a run towards the right side of the box which was spotted by McAtee. The pass was bobbling, meaning when the ball reached Gibbs-White his touch was heavy, taking the ball away from him. Kinsky came rushing out to try and retrieve the ball but the Forest man got there first and looked to chip it over the ‘keeper. It hit Kinsky on its way over him, slowing the ball down and allowing Tonali to get back on the line and try to clear it. However, Williams came diving in, determined to steer the ball fully over the line which he did. After a VAR review, you could see Williams had bought his arms up to either side of his head to protect himself from Tonali’s boot. However, you couldn’t tell if it was put in by his arm or the headspace between his arms. VAR judged him to have used his arms and the goal was chalked off.

Feeling aggrieved, the Reds pushed to find a legal lead late on. However, it was the visitors with the best remaining chance of the game. In a quick move, the ball ended up with Kudus out on the right. He delivered in a delightful cross first time which was met by Solanke on the edge of the 6 yard box. His header flew just over the crossbar. After a feisty 90 minutes, the game ended all square. Next weekend, Forest head to Villa Park whilst Spurs host Everton.

Saturday’s game was a good battle. I think we defended well as Sels never made a real save but up the other end, Kinsky also didn’t make a proper save highlighting how poor we’ve been in attack. We looked better going forward when Jesus and Munoz came on as the latter was putting some good crosses into the box that we just weren’t getting on the end of. My standouts were the two in midfield who had another good game. They both did well to break up play and McAtee was playing some nice passes to get us forward. I do feel frustrated by the disallowed goal as there isn’t sufficient evidence to be able to tell if the ball actually hit Williams’ arm so they should stick with the on field decision. Either way, it’s a positive performance and a clean sheet that we can look to build on.

Forest: Sels; Murillo (Diomande 90'), Milenkovic, Cunha; Williams, Schlager, McAtee, Aina (Munoz 59'); Gibbs-White, Ndoye (Jesus 59'); Delap (Wood 74')

Tottenham Hotspur: Kinsky; Udogie (Robertson 61'), Van de Ven, van Hecke, Porro; Bentancur, Gallagher (Fernandes 83'), Tonali; Tel (Mudryk 74'), Marmoush (Solanke 84'), Savio (Kudus 61')