Wolves 0 Leicester 0 - Report

A hard-fought and fairly entertaining affair, despite it being goalless, saw Nuno Espirito Santo's side look organised and balanced after the much-needed win over Arsenal.

But they could have beaten Brendan Rodgers' high-flying charges, with substitute Fabio Silva most notably spurning a big chance towards the end.

The Foxes had their opportunities too – Jamie Vardy glancing a header narrowly wide – in what proved to be the fourth 0-0 in the last six meetings of the two teams.

Analysis

Wolves seem to be getting back on track. This was a far more confident outing with a nice number of encouraging signs.

Jonny Castro Otto's return to the XI for the first half, before being taken off as planned before the game, brought about a more steady showing on the back foot.

They passed the ball with greater speed and intent, and they threatened down both flanks throughout the 90 minutes – Adama Traore being almost unstoppable.

The onus remains on brushing up in front of goal, though.

Willian Jose had a quiet game before being replaced by Silva, who was denied one-on-one by Kasper Schmeichel.

Yes, the keeper deserves credit for making the save, but Wolves' record signing should not have given him the chance.

If they can sort that out sooner rather than later, Nuno's men should start to climb towards the top half and, hopefully, have a brighter end to the term with the FA Cup clash against Southampton also coming up on Thursday.

Match report

Otto returned to the Wolves starting line-up after several months on the sidelines with a severe knee injury.

His first appearance of the season, the Spaniard was at left-wing-back as Nuno opted for three centre-halves – Leander Dendoncker dropping into the backline.

However, while Otto returned and Romain Saiss was named among the substitutes, Willy Boly missed out through injury along with Daniel Podence, who could spend up to six weeks on the sidelines with an adductor issue.

Leicester, meanwhile, had star striker Vardy on the bench after recovering from a hernia operation, with Kelechi Iheanacho keeping his place up front.

Back in the fold pretty quickly as far as anterior cruciate ligament surgeries go, plenty of eyes were on Otto – a player who Wolves sorely missed – and how he would fare against Foxes winger Ayoze Perez.

He made a solid start and, in fairness, so did the hosts on the whole.

Leicester were having most of the ball, with James Maddison looking to pull the strings, but Nuno's side were keeping their shape and making some timely interceptions.

They had the first chance of the afternoon, too, as a corner was flicked on to Ruben Neves at the far post. It was a good opportunity, but the midfielder leant back too much and guided his volley over the crossbar.

Then, Wolves' runaway player of the season so far, Pedro Neto came up with a moment of amazing quality which could have, and perhaps should have, resulted in them taking the lead.

Creating something out of nothing, he surged from the halfway line and skipped through two blue shirts before laying it off to Traore, whose side-footed attempt was blocked on the stretch by James Justin.

The excellent Portuguese winger – having a fair amount of joy against compatriot Ricardo Pereira – soon fizzed another inviting ball across goal as well, but Jose did not anticipate it.

Wolves, all in all, were playing well. Otto's presence brought a sense of calm to the rest of the defence as he showed no signs of hesitancy. He was his usual classy, committed self.

They had another opening before the break, with Neves hitting the wall with a free-kick before earning a booking for taking down Maddison as the Foxes to looked to spring a counter-attack.

Jonny Evans also entered the book for the visitors, for a late challenge on Jose, in what a positive half for Wolves. The start of the second period, though, saw them make a switch.

Having been so assured, Otto was replaced by Ki-Jana Hoever – Nuno after the match confirming that was the plan all along, to ease him back in gradually.

The young Dutchman went straight over to the left flank, rather than Nelson Semedo swapping sides as was seen recently at Chelsea.

That change had the potential to disrupt Wolves' flow, but they carried on causing problems – Traore especially dangerous.

He was sent tumbling by Caglar Soyuncu for an obvious yellow card, and also by Maddison shortly afterwards. Cynical fouls.

Performing as he did for large parts of last season, Traore was beating Justin for fun. He breezed past the full-back and played it over to Neto, who agonisingly could not sort his feet out from only a few yards.

Neto then played a clever cut-back to Joao Moutinho, who lofted his shot from the edge of the box comfortably over the bar.

Wolves, as has been a common theme over the past few months, were lacking a cutting edge. In an attempt to change that, Fabio Silva took the place of Jose in attack.

Leicester, also searching for ruthlessness in the final third, brought on Vardy and Marc Albrighton.

The game was poised on a knife edge. Harvey Barnes tried to find the bottom corner for the Foxes but was denied by a top block from Max Kilman, and Semedo was then sharp to prevent Barnes getting on the end of a deep cross.

At the other end, Silva had a golden opportunity – the best of the day – to win it but saw his effort from point-blank range tipped wide by Schmeichel. Vardy headed one wide in stoppage time for the away side too as it, ultimately, ended goalless.

Many would have taken a point beforehand and it is another step in the right direction, but Wolves will still be frustrated not to have made it back-to-back league victories.

Teams

Wolves (3-4-3): Patricio; Dendoncker, Coady, Kilman; Semedo, Moutinho, Neves, Otto (Hoever, 46); Traore, Jose (Silva, 61), Neto (Gibbs-White, 88)

Subs not used: Ruddy (gk), Saiss, Richards, Lonwijk, Otasowie, Vitinha

Leicester: Schmeichel; Pereira, Evans, Soyuncu, Justin; Choudhury, Tielemans, Maddison; Perez (Albrighton, 61), Iheanacho (Vardy, 61), Barnes

Subs not used: Ward (gk), Amartey, Fuchs, Thomas, Daley-Campbell, Mendy, Under

Referee: Martin Atkinson (Yorkshire)