Nottingham Forest played out a frustrating Premier League stalemate with a dismal Wolves side that did little to ease their relegation concerns and resulted in the sacking of manager Sean Dyche.

Dyche's Forest remain 17th in the table but are now just three points better off than 18th-placed West Ham, while Wolves remain rooted to the bottom on nine points.

The hosts have now won just two of their past 10 matches and being held to a goalless draw by a side scrapping away just to not be known as the worst ever team in Premier League history proved the end for Dyche's 114-day tenure.

A chorus of boos rang out inside the City Ground at full-time but in truth it was a bewildering outcome to a match Forest completely dominated but equally could have lost at the death.

Dyche will justifiably feel that his team did more than enough to win several fixtures but Forest were again made to pay for their profligacy.

By the time Elliot Anderson warmed Jose Sa's hands with a low effort towards the end of the first half the hosts had already had 15 efforts on goal, which soon increased to 16.

On his first start since joining the East Midlands club on loan from Napoli, Lorenzo Lucca was guilty of failing to convert a gilt-edged chance from eight yards when the hosts had five attackers converging on goal against a lone Wolves defender.

A one-sided second half followed the same pattern, Forest never quite delivering the precise telling ball and also having Igor Jesus and Morato denied at close range by a double save from Sa.

With Forest chasing a late winner, exasperation almost turned to despair in stoppage time for the hosts but Mateus Mane fired straight at home goalkeeper Stefan Ortega, with the visitors instead having to be content to end a run of 14 league matches without a clean sheet.

Forest's total dominance of this encounter was reflected across almost every statistic.

They had more possession, five times as many shots, a considerably higher expected goals (xG) but crucially that did not translate to the only metric that counted - goals.

And the longer the match wore on without a Forest goal the greater the anxiety and agitation in the stands could be felt.

Lucca's miss in particular drew groans from the home supporters and when the television cameras panned to club owner Evangelos Marinakis, his reaction was equally telling.

While Morgan Gibbs-White was unable to make the most of a couple of chances that came his way, in general he was Forest's bright spark.

But they once again painfully missed long-term absentee Chris Wood, who knocked in 20 top-flight goals last term.

There was also a lack of invention on the flanks with Callum Hudson-Odoi, Omari Hutchinson and Dan Ndoye failing to impress with their deliveries.

Wolves have only ever faced more shots in a single Premier League game once before - against a top-three side in Liverpool in 2024.

And they will be relieved to travel back across the Midlands having put themselves one win away from beating Derby County's record Premier League low of 11 points in 2007-08.

Rob Edwards' team battled throughout, rode their luck and were helped considerably by Forest's woeful finishing.

Yet this performance also served to underline the huge gulf in class that means a place in the Championship is almost certainly reserved for them next season.

It took 59 minutes for Mane, 18, to register their first effort on target and while he could have completed the ultimate smash-and-grab late on, it does not sit well that a club of Wolves' stature is reliant on an inexperienced England youth international as their main goal threat.

Forest travel to Turkey to play Fenerbahce in the first leg of the Europa League knockout play-offs on Thursday, 19 February (17:45 GMT), before returning to Premier League action when they welcome Liverpool to the City Ground on Sunday, 22 February (14:00).

Wolves visit Grimsby in the FA Cup fourth round on Sunday, 15 February (13:30). They then host Arsenal in the Premier League on Wednesday, 18 February (20:00).