Nottingham Forest 0-0 Tottenham: VAR denies Williams as Spurs stay blunt at the City Ground

Nottingham Forest and Tottenham took a point each at the City Ground on 5 September, but this was not a result either side will celebrate for long. Final score: Nottingham Forest 0-0 Tottenham. Forest remain winless but moved to two points from three Premier League matches. Tottenham are still without a league goal this season, still winless, and sit 18th with one point from three.

Clarity first: Tottenham had 59% possession, 456 passes, 10 corners and 11 shots. They finished with zero shots on target. That is the story T. Frank has to answer for.

Forest, under S. Dyche, were more direct, less polished, but closer to the decisive moment. Neco Williams had a goal cancelled after a VAR review in the 68th minute, the one incident that briefly changed the temperature inside the City Ground before the match returned to its grinding rhythm.

This fixture has old weight — not derby heat exactly, but memories of bigger stages and bruising meetings. Here it felt like a match between two sides still searching for their first proper version of themselves.

How they lined up

S. Dyche set Forest up in a 3-4-2-1: M. Sels in goal; Jair, N. Milenković and Murillo in the back three; O. Aina, X. Schlager, J. McAtee and N. Williams across midfield; D. Ndoye and M. Gibbs-White behind L. Delap.

T. Frank used Tottenham in a 4-2-3-1: A. Kinský in goal; Pedro Porro, J. van Hecke, M. van de Ven and D. Udogie in defence; R. Bentancur and S. Tonali as the double pivot; Sávio, C. Gallagher and M. Tel behind Omar Marmoush.

Forest’s plan was plain enough: protect the centre with three centre-backs, ask the wing-backs to bite, then play early into Delap, Gibbs-White and McAtee. Tottenham’s plan brought more of the ball but less of the box. Bentancur and Tonali gave them control, Jan van Hecke and Micky van de Ven passed through the first line, and Pedro Porro supplied width. Still, the final action was missing.

The match turned on one cancelled moment

The first half had edge but not much incision. Destiny Udogie was booked at 45+1 for Tottenham, a useful marker of how Forest kept pulling Spurs into contact wide and in transition.

After the break, Nikola Milenković was booked in the 52nd minute, also for a foul. By then the game had become more about territory than rhythm. Forest were fouling too often, 22 times in total, but Tottenham were not making their territorial advantage count.

Dyche moved first in the 59th minute, sending D. Muñoz on for Ola Aina and Igor Jesus on for Dan Ndoye. It gave Forest new legs down the flank and a different runner in the forward line.

Frank answered in the 61st minute: A. Robertson replaced Destiny Udogie, and Mohammed Kudus came on for Sávio. Kudus mattered. He won duels, drew fouls, carried the ball, and gave Tottenham some one-v-one threat. But he did not change the central truth: Spurs could not land a shot on target.

Then came the key moment. In the 68th minute, Neco Williams had a goal cancelled after a VAR review. No goal, no release, no swing in the table. But it told the story of Forest’s afternoon: rough around the edges, yes, yet closer to breaking the game open than Tottenham were.

Further changes followed. In the 74th minute, M. Mudryk replaced Mathys Tel for Spurs, while Chris Wood came on for Liam Delap for Forest. James McAtee was booked in the 78th minute. Mateus Fernandes replaced Conor Gallagher in the 83rd minute, Dominic Solanke came on for Omar Marmoush in the 84th minute, and Mateus Fernandes was booked in the 84th minute. Forest’s final change came in the 90th minute, with Ousmane Diomande replacing Murillo.

The players who shaped it

James McAtee was Forest’s best attacking player. He produced five key passes, had three shots, one on target, and kept looking for the pass that would turn Tottenham’s back four. His booking in the 78th minute did not change his importance. Forest needed someone to connect the scraps. McAtee did that.

Morgan Gibbs-White was less efficient but still carried threat, with three shots and one on target. Liam Delap gave Forest a route forward before making way in the 74th minute, winning five of 11 duels and making two key passes. That mattered because Forest had only 41% possession. They needed their forward to make bad passes useful.

At the back, Murillo, Jair and Milenković kept Tottenham away from clean looks. Milenković’s booking in the 52nd minute gave him a line to walk, but he managed it. Jair won five of six duels. Murillo made four tackles before being replaced in the 90th minute.

For Tottenham, Jan van Hecke was probably their most reliable performer. He completed 69 accurate passes from 73, made one key pass, and helped secure the clean sheet. Micky van de Ven also gave Spurs security, winning eight of 10 duels and completing 64 accurate passes from 67. That was the base.

The problem was higher up. Sávio beat men, completing five of nine dribbles before going off in the 61st minute, but Spurs did not convert that into clear shots. Omar Marmoush had two shots without hitting the target. Mathys Tel had no shot on target. Dominic Solanke had one late shot after coming on in the 84th minute, also off target.

Conor Gallagher gave Tottenham energy, winning 10 of 14 duels and drawing five fouls. But energy without incision is just motion. Tottenham had too much of that.

Match statistics

What it means

Forest are 16th with two points, with form reading DDL. They have scored twice in three league games and are still waiting for their first win, but this was at least a clean sheet and a performance with bite. Dyche will take the organisation. He will want more calm in the final third.

Tottenham’s situation is sharper. They are 18th, on one point, with form reading DLL. More alarming: zero goals scored and five conceded after three matches. Frank’s side can pass, can circulate, can push full-backs high and win corners. But right now there is no end product. The package is incomplete.

Elsewhere in the Premier League picture, Liverpool have already shown what ruthless attacking rhythm looks like in their win at Ipswich, while attention now shifts to another major fixture in Everton vs Manchester United.

For Forest, the next step is turning effort into wins. For Tottenham, the timeline is more urgent: find a goal, then find a season.