Stalemate at City Ground as VAR Robs Forest of a Winner

The moment that will define this game for weeks came in the 68th minute. Williams darted onto a loose ball inside the box, it ended up in the net, the City Ground erupted — and then VAR stepped in. Handball. Goal disallowed. The roar evaporated into groans, and Nottingham Forest were left to stew on what might have been. That disallowed goal is the story of this match. Everything else is context.

And frankly, the context is fascinating for fantasy football managers tracking two clubs in genuine early-season peril. Forest sit 16th in the Premier League standings with just 2 points from Matchweek 3 — a record of W0 D2 L1 and a goal difference of -1. Tottenham, remarkably, are even worse off in 18th on just 1 point, having failed to score in 270 minutes of league football before this draw. Oliver Glasner's men came into this having twice led Liverpool in a 2-2 draw at Anfield last time out, with Morgan Gibbs-White — who has 1 goal and 1 assist in 3 Premier League apps this season — continuing to carry the creative burden. Roberto De Zerbi's Spurs, meanwhile, had been thrashed 3-0 by Brentford and beaten 2-0 by Newcastle before this trip to the East Midlands. A point, under the circumstances, felt almost like relief for the visitors.

The stats tell a story of Tottenham's dominance that never quite translated into cutting edge. De Zerbi's side racked up 59% possession and 456 total passes — accurate on 382 of them — and won 10 corner kicks to Forest's 2. Yet somehow, they mustered zero shots on goal all afternoon. Zero. Their xG of 1.57 was more than double Forest's 0.65, a damning indictment of a finishing problem that has now stretched across three matchweeks. Forest's setup, a solid 3-4-2-1 that limited opponents to shots from distance, was effective if occasionally passive — their 41% possession and just 2 goalkeeper saves required tells you they didn't exactly play expansive soccer. Glasner's side had 5 shots inside the box and 7 outside it. Neither goalkeeper was properly worked, save for Gibbs-White's first-half one-on-one — stopped sharply by Antonín Kinsky. Ibrahim Sangaré returned from a knock to bolster the midfield, while summer signing Daniel Muñoz, who joined from Crystal Palace and has history with Glasner from their time together — which brought the 2025 FA Cup, Community Shield and UEFA Conference League — was available after nose surgery. On the Tottenham side, Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison were both absent through injury, compounding the squad depth issues that have plagued De Zerbi's rebuild. Xavi Simons — a player with a SAM rating of 8.0/10 — remains sidelined with a cruciate ligament tear that could keep him out until February 2027. The absences are staggering for a team trying to climb away from the relegation zone and looking to find their identity in the bundesliga and ligue 1-envied De Zerbi system.

The match had genuine bite. Destiny Udogie's yellow card just before the break set the tone — he was hauled off at the 61st minute, with Sávio coming on and immediately injecting pace into Spurs' attacks. Mathys Tel arrived at 74 minutes alongside Liam Delap for Forest, and Conor Gallagher joined the fray at 83. Nikola Milenković got booked at 52 minutes for a foul that summed up Forest's desperate defending. James McAtee — earning a SAM rating of 6.2/10 for 15.9 pts with his clean sheet and 3 tackles — led the Forest defensive press brilliantly before picking up a yellow of his own at 78 minutes. Credit where it's due: both sets of defenders held firm when it really mattered. For a la liga or serie a neutrals watching, this was Premier League football at its most primal — scrappy, intense, and completely goalless. Forest's transfer activity continues to catch the eye too: Tomi Awoniyi departed to Coventry, while Jota Silva heads to Olympiakos Piraeus on loan — exits that thin an already stretched forward line. The less said about Spurs' own transfer window, the better — Andres Véliz has gone to Bahia, Manor Solomon moved to West Ham, and Richarlison has been left out of the registered Premier League squad entirely.