Brighton & Hove Albion 0 Nottingham Forest 0
Albion were too slow, too compact and at times too petulant.
As with so many times before in the Premier League, Albion had a majority of the possession and created chances but failed to score.
The biggest culprits on a mild October evening were, in the first half, Adam Webster and Joel Veltman from almost identical spots on the edge of the six-yard box, both from Solly March crosses.
And there was a glaring miss from Pascal Gross in the second half when his shot was palmed away from almost point-blank range by Dean Henderson in the Forest goal.
Albion had seven shots on target to Forest’s absolute zero.
It was clear to most quite early on that Adam Lallana and Pascal Gross were trying to play the same role and that, with Moises Caicedo just behind them, the midfield is too compact.
In the first half March saw a stinging shot palmed away low down to his left by Henderson – and Leandro Trossard finally got clear of Steve Cook but his 20-yard effort hit the top of the bar.
During a break in play in the first half, Gross and Lallana appeared to have some strong words for each other.
Albion continued to dominate in the second half but Trossard, March and latterly Tariq Lamptey who replaced Lallana could not provide a telling cross.
Gross and Welbeck did combine of sorts as Gross, hit an on-target effort into the ground which Henderson palmed away.
Soon after, Deniz Undav replaced Gross who appeared to brush aside a Roberto De Zerbi handshake.
It is fair to say that Undav hardly had a touch in his ten or so minutes on the pitch.
Forest had two haphazard late efforts. Brennan Johnson had a go after good link up play with former Albion midfielder Jesse Lingard but it actually went so wide it went out for a throw in.
Then at the death, with Lingard again involved, a Dunk clearance slammed into the face of Taiwo Awoniyi and, fortunately for Albion, bounced wide.
Albion stay seventh in the Premier League for now but travel to champions Manchester City on Saturday (22 October) then face Chelsea at the Amex the following week.
