Postpublished at 87 mins
Wolves 0-2 Nottingham Forest
Wolves are still working away but their final ball has been missing.
Morgan Gibbs-White inspired Nottingham Forest to a clinical win at Wolves, in front of new England manager Thomas Tuchel.
The midfielder's early opener silenced the jeers from the home fans, with Gibbs-White having left Molineux for Forest in 2022.
Chris Wood added a 12th goal of the season just before half-time before Taiwo Awoniyi tapped in a third after a counter-attack in stoppage time.
Yet the hosts had their chances with Joao Gomes and Jorgen Strand Larsen seeing efforts saved by Forest keeper Matz Sels, while Larsen was also thwarted by Murillo's goalline clearance.
Forest's 12th win, three more than during the whole of the last campaign, came from two of their biggest weapons and showed teams are still struggling to find ways to stop them.
Gibbs-White's seventh-minute goal came after a rapid break while Wood tapped in from six yards after excellent wide play from Callum Hudson-Odoi.
Simple but incredibly effective, Tuchel would have been impressed by Forest's ruthless efficiency and Gibbs-White, who made his England debut in September, will surely be in his thoughts for March's World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Latvia.
Nuno Espirito Santo's side remain third in the Premier League, six points behind leaders Liverpool, who they host in their next league game on 14 January. They are behind second-placed Arsenal on goal difference after a sixth straight victory - the first time they have won six successive top-flight matches in the same season in 58 years.
Wolves were the latest vanquished foes as Vitor Pereira suffered his first defeat since replacing Gary O'Neil as manager last month.
But for Sels' heroics the hosts could have been 2-1 ahead instead of 2-0 behind at the break, although they clearly need reinforcements.
They are close to signing Reims centre-back Emmanuel Agbadou for £16.6m but Pereira had 16-year-old defender Wes Okoduwa on the substitutes' bench and an injection of quality is needed with Wolves only out of the relegation zone on goal difference.
It was a ninth clean sheet in 20 Premier League games this season for Forest - more than any other team - but they needed Sels at his best to maintain their run.
The goalkeeper denied Gomes and twice kept out Larsen as Forest's goalkeeper demonstrated his quality, keeping a fourth consecutive shutout.
Gibbs-White making a scoring return to Molineux, Wood continuing his streak and Awoniyi's first goal in 11 months will take a large portion of the headlines but Forest's defence has been the foundation to their success this season.
At Molineux, Murillo replaced Morato in defence following the 2-0 win at Everton, and the transition was seamless with Forest's surgical summer transfer business looking more impressive by the game.
Last season they used three different goalkeepers, conceding 67 goals, with Sels, who joined almost 12 months ago, eventually claiming the jersey.
This term they have conceded just 19 times, a testament to Sels' influence and the importance of a regular goalkeeper.
Pereira has made a fine start to life at Wolves with two wins and a draw in his first three games before Forest arrived at Molineux.
They exposed his team's failings with worrying ease and underlined why the new manager needs reinforcements this month.
Pereira said on Friday that Wolves would be active in the transfer window but he does not want to change a lot, although his hands are likely to be tied financially anyway.
Should Agbadou arrive, that would end interest in Lens defender Kevin Danso, with the club finally replacing Max Kilman, having failed in the summer following the former skipper's move to West Ham.
Their bench included four players with just a minute of senior action between them this season to highlight the lack of depth when just a few players are missing.
Andre did not feature having travelled to Brazil for the birth of his son, while Matheus Cunha was absent as he sat out the first of his two-game ban, but Premier League survival cannot be hung around one player's shoulders.
After the opportunity to rate players has closed, the score displayed represents the average from all the submissions by BBC Sport users.
Position | Team | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals For | Goals Against | Goal Difference | Points | Form, Last 6 games, Oldest first |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 19 | 14 | 4 | 1 | 47 | 19 | 28 | 46 |
| |
2 | 20 | 11 | 7 | 2 | 39 | 18 | 21 | 40 |
| |
3 | 20 | 12 | 4 | 4 | 29 | 19 | 10 | 40 |
| |
4 | 20 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 39 | 24 | 15 | 36 |
| |
5 | 20 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 34 | 22 | 12 | 35 |
| |
6 | 20 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 36 | 27 | 9 | 34 |
| |
7 | 20 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 30 | 23 | 7 | 33 |
| |
8 | 20 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 30 | 32 | -2 | 32 |
| |
9 | 20 | 7 | 9 | 4 | 30 | 27 | 3 | 30 |
| |
10 | 20 | 6 | 10 | 4 | 30 | 29 | 1 | 28 |
| |
11 | 20 | 8 | 3 | 9 | 38 | 35 | 3 | 27 |
| |
12 | 20 | 7 | 3 | 10 | 42 | 30 | 12 | 24 |
| |
13 | 20 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 23 | 28 | -5 | 23 |
| |
14 | 20 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 24 | 39 | -15 | 23 |
| |
15 | 20 | 4 | 9 | 7 | 21 | 28 | -7 | 21 |
| |
16 | 19 | 3 | 8 | 8 | 15 | 25 | -10 | 17 |
| |
17 | 20 | 4 | 4 | 12 | 31 | 45 | -14 | 16 |
| |
18 | 20 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 20 | 35 | -15 | 16 |
| |
19 | 20 | 3 | 5 | 12 | 23 | 44 | -21 | 14 |
| |
20 | 20 | 1 | 3 | 16 | 12 | 44 | -32 | 6 |
|
Manager: Vítor Pereira
Formation: 3 - 4 - 2 - 1
Manager: Nuno Espírito Santo
Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1
Manager: Vítor Pereira
Formation: 3 - 4 - 2 - 1
Manager: Nuno Espírito Santo
Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1
Premier League
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Wolves have lost just one of their last 12 league games against Nottingham Forest (W5 D6) and are unbeaten in all five against them in the Premier League (W1 D4).
Nottingham Forest are winless in their last four top-flight away games against Wolves (D2 L2), since a 4-1 win in December 1980 under Brian Clough.
Each of the last four Premier League meetings between Nottingham Forest and Wolves has finished as a draw – Forest last drew five consecutive league games against an opponent vs Rotherham (2003-2005) while Wolves last did so against Newcastle (2019-2021).
Wolves have won their opening league match in just one of the last six calendar years (D3 L2), beating Manchester United 1-0 in 2022.
Nottingham Forest lost 3-2 against Brentford in their opening league match of 2024 – they’ve not lost their first league game in consecutive calendar years since 2006/2007 in League One.
Vitor Pereira has picked up seven points in his three Premier League games in charge of Wolves (W2 D1) – should they win this game, Pereira will have won more points (10) and games (3) than Gary O’Neil managed in his final 19 games in charge (W2 D3 L14 – 9 points).
Nottingham Forest have won 37 points in 19 Premier League games this season, an improvement of 20 points from their total at this stage last season (17). Two of the last three teams with a 20+ point improvement at the halfway stage in consecutive seasons have then won the league – Chelsea in 2016-17 (+29 from 2015-16) and Leicester City in 2015-16 (+26 from 2014-15).
Nottingham Forest have won their last five Premier League games – they haven’t won six in a row in the top-flight since a run of seven between May and September 1979 under Brian Clough, while they last did so within the same season in 1966-67 (two runs of six wins).
Jørgen Strand Larsen has scored in six Premier League matches for Wolves this season (seven goals) but is yet to end on the winning side in any of them (D2 L4). In Premier League history, only Michael Kightly has ever scored in more games without winning (7 – D2 L5).
Chris Wood has scored 22 goals in 35 Premier League games under Nuno Espírito Santo for Nottingham Forest – one more goal would see him be the top scoring Forest player under one manager in the Premier League, with Stan Collymore scoring 22 times under Frank Clark in 1994-95.