Wolverhampton Wanderers

Matthew Howarth
BBC Sport journalist

Image source, Getty Images

Having now gone four league games without victory for the first time in 2023-24, Wolves' season is in danger of petering out.

It took a moment of magic from Matheus Cunha to give Gary O'Neil's side a first-half lead at Nottingham Forest, but Wolves have struggled to keep clean sheets on their travels and Morgan Gibbs-White restored parity with a free header just six minutes later.

Forest's second goal was just as poor from the visitors' perspective, with Matt Doherty playing an inadvertent one-two with Gibbs-White before diverting the ball into goalscorer Danilo's path while trying to dispossess the former Wolves player inside the area.

Cunha's close-range finish earned Wolves a share of the spoils, but O'Neil's team - who were challenging for a place in Europe just last month - have fallen away from the top seven in recent weeks.

With three straight home games coming up in late April, however, Wolves will be confident of returning to winning ways before the end of the month.

Gary O'Neil spoke to BBC Match of the Day after Wolves' draw with Nottingham Forest: "I think a draw is probably a fair outcome. They had more shots and territory, we had more of the ball. Probably a fair result, I am guessing Forest will be disappointed. They had some late pressure without troubling Jose Sa too much.

"We gave them the first goal really, a really poor goal. Even where it goes in, middle of the goal, Sa will be disappointed to have not saved it. Soft header. On the balance of it. Lots of stuff I did like and other stuff we need to improve on, but we know that. So not much else to it.

"We are getting back to where we should be player wise but it is so tricky at the minute to manage the group. You've got Cunha who can play 65 minutes-ish, then Channy who can play half an hour... Nelson was absolutely shattered, feeling his hamstrings tightening up a bit. We've got Traore playing right back for the last minutes. Two kids coming on late on who haven't even had a professional loan yet but are getting minutes.

"In terms of fight and resilience and bravery, the lads showed a lot of that We showed some quality but we need to improve, teams know that we don't have much of a threat in behind at the minute.

"A positive day for us. A patched up group on the road in the Premier League and we take a point with us."

• Morgan Gibbs-White became just the fourth Nottingham Forest player to register double figures for both goals (10) and assists (15) in the Premier League (after Ian Woan, Bryan Roy and Steve Stone).

• Wolverhampton Wanderers are winless in their past four Premier League games (D2 L2) – their longest run across a season since a five-game spell between October and November 2022.

• Wolves’ Matheus Cunha has been directly involved in nine goals across his past seven Premier League starts (six goals, three assists), as many as in his first 30 starts.

• Danilo has been involved in a goal in both of his past two home Premier League appearances for Nottingham Forest, as many as in his past 12.

• Matheus Cunha became just the fourth different player to score 10 or more goals for Wolves in the Premier League (after Raul Jimenez x2, Steven Fletcher x2 and Hee-Chan Hwang).

Matheus Cunha scored twice as Wolves denied Nottingham Forest a valuable victory in their fight for Premier League survival.

Brazilian forward Cunha, making his first start since suffering a hamstring injury in early February, opened the scoring at the City Ground with a magnificent solo strike midway through the first half.

Carrying the ball from inside his own half to the edge of the Forest penalty area, Cunha skipped between Andrew Omobamidele and Ryan Yates before rifling an unstoppable shot past goalkeeper Matz Sels and into the top corner.

Former Wolves playmaker Morgan Gibbs-White drew Forest level just six minutes later, heading home Giovanni Reyna's corner in first-half stoppage time before celebrating in front of the travelling fans.

Nuno Espirito Santo's home side swept ahead in the second half when Danilo powered a low shot beyond Jose Sa from close range, but Cunha bundled home a loose ball from a corner to salvage a point for Gary O'Neil's men.

Wolves remain just outside the top half of the table, while Forest stay perilously close to the relegation zone.

Were you at the match or did you follow it from elsewhere?

Forest fans - let us know your thoughts on the game here

How did you rate the side's performance, Wolves fans?

Follow all of the reaction here

Six matches make up Saturday's Premier League action, and we will bring you every moment.

BBC Radio 5 Live match commentaries:

• Man City v Luton

• Bournemouth v Man Utd

All times BST

Follow BBC Radio 5 Live commentaries and live text updates here

Chris Sutton is making predictions for all 380 Premier League matches again this season, against a variety of guests.

For this weekend's games, he takes on actor and Leyton Orient fan Daniel Mays.

Sutton's prediction: 1-1

This is big for Nottingham Forest, who need to bounce back from last week's defeat at Tottenham.

I always think Wolves are well organised, though, even if their results have dropped off a bit with only one win in their past five games.

Wolves boss Gary O'Neil is still fuming about having a late goal ruled out for offside in their defeat by West Ham but I felt it was the right decision.

Daniel's prediction: 2-2

This is going to be tight.

See the full list of predictions here

Phil Cartwright
BBC Sport journalist

Wolves boss Gary O'Neil has been speaking to the media before Saturday's Premier League match at Nottingham Forest.

Here are the main headlines:

• Forward Hwang Hee-chan is in the matchday squad for the first time since the end of February following injury, while Rayan Ait-Nouri is also set to be involved.

• O'Neil said the game against Forest will be "incredibly tough" and added: "When I look at the depth they have and the money they've spent, it's a real surprise that they are where they are."

• O'Neil was charged by the Football Association for his behaviour following the controversial defeat by West Ham on Saturday. He said it would "probably be best for him not to comment until the process is complete".

• Asked about the club's frustrations with VAR, O'Neil said: "You can feel it nationally really. Across the whole league there's been a lot of frustration or disappointment around some of the decisions and the way the season has gone with VAR and other bits and pieces."

• He continued: "That's not to say it's all bad. There have been some good calls and things that have definitely helped. But not only at Wolves, I would say there is a desire from everybody for the standard of it to improve and I'm sure that goes for the people in charge of it as well."

• O'Neil said he speaks regularly with PGMOL chief Howard Webb to discuss incidents in Wolves' and other clubs' games, and that Webb is "always open and honest" with his explanations. He added: "I don't need them to agree with me - it's not where we're trying to get it to. It's just being open and honest, and giving me a good understanding of why decisions are given. We've received apologies this year, which I always accept. I understand people make mistakes and it's no problem as long as there's an openness and an honesty to the process."

• Asked about points Wolves have potentially lost because of contentious decisions this season, O'Neil said: "I don't blame anybody else or credit anybody else for our league position apart from us. I'm sure there will be many clubs that claim they could be higher without certain decisions."

Follow Friday's Premier League news conferences

Nick Mashiter
Senior football news reporter

Image source, PA Media

The controversial decision to deny Wolves a late equaliser against West Ham on Saturday was correct, the Key Match Incidents Panel has ruled.

Wolves captain Max Kilman headed home in the ninth minute of stoppage time in the game at Molineux on Saturday, but substitute Tawanda Chirewa was in an offside position.

Manager Gary O'Neil said it was "possibly the worst decision I have ever seen" and has since been charged by the Football Association for his post-match behaviour towards the officials.

It is not the first time Wolves feel hard done by following video assistant referee (VAR) decisions.

From the first game of the season, when they were wrongly denied a penalty when Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana clattered into Sasa Kalajdzic, there have been several controversial calls against them.

They were unhappy with Luton's penalty in the 1-1 draw at Kenilworth Road in September for Joao Gomes' handball, when the ball had deflected onto his arm. Premier League refereeing chief Howard Webb admitting the decision split opinion.

Webb also said VAR should have intervened when Newcastle were awarded a penalty in the 2-2 draw at Molineux in October, while the award of Sheffield United's injury-time spot kick in their 2-1 win in November was deemed incorrect.

O'Neil also said, after November's 3-2 defeat at Fulham, that referee Michael Salisbury had admitted VAR should have told him to overturn the hosts' first penalty, although the independent panel felt the VAR calls were correct.

Chants of "boring" are now regular at Molineux during breaks in play for VAR decisions. The natives have been restless for a while and the club's patience is also starting to wear thin.

West Ham and Wolves are interested in signing Union Saint-Gilloise and Algeria striker Mohamed Amoura this summer, but they face competition from Tottenham for the 23-year-old. (GiveMeSport), external

Want more transfer news? Read Friday's full gossip column

Simon Stone
Chief football news reporter

Image source, PA Media

The only surprise about Gary O'Neil's Football Association charge around his behaviour after Wolves' defeat by West Ham on Saturday was that it took so long to land.

O'Neil said in the aftermath of his side's 2-1 loss that it might happen, given he was ordered out of the referee's room at Molineux because of the anger he was showing at having an injury-time equaliser ruled out for offside.

O'Neil called it the "possibly the worst decision he had ever seen" and by that point he had calmed down a bit.

Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) sources were adamant the call to rule Max Kilman's header out because Tawanda Chirewa was stood directly in front of Lukasz Fabianski was the right one, even though the Hammers' keeper had no chance of stopping the ball going in.

Image source, Getty Images

Wolves boss Gary O'Neil has been charged by the Football Association after Wanderers' 2-1 loss to West Ham on Saturday.

Wolves had a stoppage-time equaliser ruled out for offside at Molineux.

An FA statement said: "It's alleged that following the completion of the fixture, his language and/or behaviour in or around the match officials' changing rooms was improper and/or threatening.

"He has until Monday, 15 April to respond to the charge.'

Wolves are 11th in the Premier League and travel to Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

Here are the key facts and figures before Saturday's game between Nottingham Forest and Wolves in the Premier League.

• Nottingham Forest have won just one of their last 10 league games against Wolves (D4 L5) and are winless in all three against them in the Premier League (D2 L1).

• Wolves are unbeaten in their last five away league games against Nottingham Forest (W3 D2), since a 3-1 Championship defeat in March 2013.

• No side has lost more Premier League games in 2024 than Nottingham Forest (7), with only Burnley (8) and Sheffield United (7) earning fewer points than Forest so far this calendar year (9).

• Wolves have kept just two clean sheets in their last 32 Premier League away games, with both of those coming this season in a 1-0 win at Everton (August) and 0-0 draw at Brighton (January).

• Chris Wood has scored 12 Premier League goals for Nottingham Forest this season, only ever netting more in the 2019-20 campaign (14 with Burnley). Only against West Ham (7) has he scored more Premier League goals than he has against Wolves (6), and he scored his first ever Premier League hat-trick against them in April 2021.

• Only Ollie Watkins and Leon Bailey (7) have combined for more Premier League goals this season than Nottingham Forest duo Anthony Elanga and Chris Wood (6). It’s the second most goal combinations for a Forest pair in a single Premier League campaign, after Bryan Roy and Stan Collymore in 1994-95 (7).

Mike Taylor
BBC Radio WM reporter

"If your understanding and knowledge of football is fairly low, then you can reach the conclusion that that is offside," said Gary O’Neil after Wolves' latest adventures in VAR, although his rather more resigned tone compared with his clear anger at some incidents earlier in the season said quite a lot in itself.

"I would hope that the officials working at this level would be far better than that, to know better, especially with a screen and slow-motion in front of them. Unfortunately, they don’t..."

O’Neil was answering the questions he was understandably asked about the disallowed late goal that denied Wolves a point against West Ham, but he and his players may have spent rather more of this week working out how they had come to be trailing in the first place.

They really had played well in the first half - "top, top level", in O’Neil’s view - and although West Ham had their own complaints to make over the award of the penalty that took Wolves ahead, there was no argument that it was the least Wolves deserved.

That authority quickly drained away after half-time, and the game was starting to turn even before Rayan Ait-Nouri left in the 55th minute. Not for the first time lately, Ait-Nouri had been the key figure in the game, although being the right-sided of three forwards was a new assignment.

Recently, O’Neil had talked warily of using Ait-Nouri further forward from the start of games, noting his ability there but suggesting the benefit might be outweighed by the loss of his services further back.

Against West Ham, Ait-Nouri revelled in the new role, and in his slipstream the whole team seemed fresher than in recent weeks - the cadence of their passing slightly quickened.

Alas, as everyone knows, injuries have left Wolves working without a safety net, and O’Neil with a familiar dilemma. "His calf was tight, and obviously we have that decision to make – whether we leave him on with pain in his calf and try to get him through it and risk a serious one, or whether we get him off.

"It’s a lose-lose situation – you know that taking him off jeopardises the result, but you know that leaving him on jeopardises the next lot of results. So, tough call. We missed him."

Once again, Wolves are left looking longingly towards the medical room, awaiting relief.

Listen to live commentary of Nottingham Forest v Wolves on BBC Radio WM (DAB Black Country) at 15:00 BST on Saturday

And tune in to The West Midlands Football Phone-In every weeknight from 18:00

Image source, Getty Images

West Ham striker Michail Antonio says VAR is "a shambles" in light of controversy in their win over Wolves.

Wolves thought they had found a late equaliser in the fixture, when Max Kilman's goal was ruled out when a player was judged to be offside in front of West Ham goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski.

"It's a shambles. VAR is an actual shambles. Even though it's gone for me, we nicked a win because it's a shambles," Antonio told The Footballer's Football Podcast.

"Honestly, that's not offside mate. In any shape or form.

"VAR, I'd prefer if we just went back to normal. It has not helped football. Because they have spent so much money on it, they are scrambling, trying their hardest to keep it.

"Sometimes in life you meet people and they just don't fit in your life and you have to let them go. You have to let it go mate."

Asked if using ex-players in the VAR decision process, Antonio said: "It doesn't matter who is in there. At the end of the day it's a matter of opinion. Why VAR doesn't work in football is there are so many grey areas. So it will always be a matter of opinions. It doesn't make any sense. We've lost a bit of passion from the game. It hasn't helped. So, it's time to call it a day."

Manchester City are interested in Wolves' Pedro Neto but could face competition from clubs in Saudi Arabia for the winger. (Teamtalk, external)

Arsenal will compete with Manchester United to sign Wolves midfielder Joao Gomes this summer. (O Dia - in Portuguese, external)

Want more transfer stories? Read Wednesday's full gossip column

Matt Cooper
Fan writer

Wolves are now winless in their past four games and it does feel that the season is concluding with a whimper.

Key injuries have blighted Wolves' faint hopes of Europe - but individual bits of sloppiness also do not help.

Most of the noise will be around the wrongly chalked-off equaliser in stoppage time, but it should never really have come to that.

Two poor episodes led to West Ham taking the lead late into the second half - in a game Wolves had completely dominated for 45 minutes.

The addition of Michail Antonio and a change of shape from the Hammers did create a lot of problems for the hosts in the second half, but the goals are completely avoidable.

It is defending I am sure Gary O'Neil will be seething about - especially conceding a goal directly from a corner.

It simply cannot happen at Premier League level.

Matt Cooper can be found at Talking Wolves, external

We asked for your thoughts on Saturday's Premier League game between Wolves and West Ham United.

Here are some of your responses:

Wolves fans

Micky: Wolves were so poor in the second half that they didn’t really deserve anything from the game. After an impressive first half, we sat back and let West Ham dominate the second period. Although the disallowed goal was controversial, it would have been harsh on West Ham, who also had a goal controversially disallowed. It was a fair result.

Tony: Sorry, the excuses that we are not at full strength don't wash. They had ample chances after going 1-0 up. They are highly skilled professionals and should be able to score from close range all day, but apparently not. Still, on to the next game. Wishing for better times.

Martin: We are going to finish way ahead of expectations, given the available resources. Yes, we could have made European football if we had two or three more senior players, but we don't. I would have taken this at the start of the season. By the way, that was an absurd offside decision.

Darron: What I would like to see at the end of the season, after all of the points deductions for FFP, are points added for teams who have had 'apologies' and 'wrong VAR decisions' against them. An utter disgrace, yet again, which will probably end Wolves' European hopes. Hopefully next season they will get things right and treat all of the teams the same.

West Ham fans

Adrian: We were dreadful in the first half and I thought Wolves deserved a comfortable half-time lead. We were much better in the second half and Wolves will wonder how they managed to lose that game. VAR is killing the game. We were poor but we won. Wolves will feel robbed.

Liam: I can’t understand why we never get out of first gear until we are a goal down. I will forever wonder what would happen if an attacking-minded manager got hold of this squad. Poor officiating was unfortunately the talking point again. The first penalty was never a penalty and the last goal shouldn't have been disallowed. I hope Bowen makes a quick recovery.

KB: I can't understand Moyes' decision to play Paqueta, Bowen and Kudus out of their favoured positions in the first half, when we were not under any pressure to. Surely that is tactical incompetence. He has made too many of these poor decisions - it is inexcusable. He should know his players better by this stage of the season. It was a better second half when it was rectified.

Ray: It wasn't the best performance, but a result is a result. Unfortunately, our game management at the end hasn't been great but thankfully VAR stepped in and a decision has gone our way. Three points and now the focus is on Thursday.

Wolves midfielder Mario Lemina is determined the campaign should not fade away.

While Saturday's home defeat by West Ham will chiefly be remembered for the last-minute VAR controversy that cost Wolves a point, it cannot be overlooked Gary O'Neil's men have now gone four matches without a win.

Wolves controlled the first-half, should have been further in front but, as Hammers boss David Moyes said, it seemed as though the sides swapped shirts at half-time as the visitors ran out winners.

It equals their worst run of the season and in addition to dropping them out of the battle for European places, has also cost them their place in the FA Cup.

With seven matches to go, including games against Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool, Lemina knows Wolves cannot afford to give up on the remainder of the season.

"It cannot fade out," he said.

"We need to be honest with ourselves. If we want to stay where we are and play for something better for the fans and show them we compete at the top of the league, we cannot play a first half like that against a really top team and show a really bad second half.

"The first-half was maybe the best we've played. The second half was not acceptable for us as a group."

Image source, Getty Images

Former Arsenal striker Ian Wright says he is "gutted" for Wolves and Gary O'Neil, after VAR ruled out Max Kilman's stoppage-time equaliser against West Ham United due to Tawanda Chirewa being in goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski's line of vision.

Speaking on Match of the Day, Wright said: "Fabianski can move. He has got to move. He [Chirewa] is not impeding him [Fabianski] to stop him moving. I can't tell you how gutted I am for Gary O'Neil and Wolves on that one.

"Like I say, Chirewa is not impeding the goalkeeper. He [Fabianski] has just got to move.

"It is a tough one. I don't know what to say to Wolves and O'Neil, but I apologise to you for them, or something like that. It is a nightmare for you guys.

"I don't know what a penalty is anymore. I don't know what is happening now."

Former Aston Villa and England striker Dion Dublin agreed with Wright, stating: "As a goalkeeper, if you can't see the ball then put yourself in a position where you can see the ball. It is as simple as that.

"It is like a centre-forward trying to lose his defender, they have got to lose the defender so they can get their head on the ball. It is simple.

"A decision like that, it kind of muddies the waters because we are not quite sure what is what at the moment. That's the thing - we are not quite sure what is what."

Catch up on Match of the Day here

Gary Lineker introduces highlights and analysis from Saturday's seven Premier League fixtures.

If you missed Match of the Day, you can catch up on the action on BBC iPlayer.

Listen back to Saturday's BBC Radio 5 Live and 5 Sports Extra match commentary in full:

Everton v Burnley

Brighton v Arsenal

Brighton will not look to re-sign Ansu Fati after his loan move from Barcelona but Wolves, Valencia and Sevilla are potential destinations this summer for the Spain forward, 21. (Sport - in Spanish, external)

Want more transfer stories? Read Monday's full gossip column