Tottenham fire blanks in draw at Nottingham Forest after Williams goal ruled out

For the third successive league match, Tottenham failed to score and this time they did not even muster a shot on target. Excluding a 5-1 win against a Charlton B team in the Carabao Cup, their season so far reads: five goals against and none scored. For a couple of minutes Nottingham Forest thought they had added to that goals-against tally but Neco Williams was adjudged to have handled when stooping to head in on the goalline as Sandro Tonali and Jan Paul van Hecke attempted to prevent Morgan Gibbs-White’s deflected effort bobbling into the net.The mood music surrounding Roberto De Zerbi has been overwhelmingly positive since the Italian arrived at the end of March and led the rescue mission; see the Birra Moretti-themed flag on show in the away end here. But Spurs, for whom Mykhailo Mudryk arrived as a late substitute for his first competitive appearance for 645 days, still struggled in front of goal. Dominic Solanke, another late sub, headed on to the roof of Matz Sels’s net on 88 minutes and that was as good as things got for the visitors. Where was all the firepower? Last season’s top goalscorer, Richarlison, is training separately from De Zerbi’s first team after rejecting an offer from Everton and was not in Spurs’ 25-man squad.There were glimpses of quality from the Spurs debutant Savio, a £75m arrival from Manchester City, but they were just that. Tonali, a £92.5m buy from Newcastle, impressed defensively more than anything else. Apart from Gibbs-White’s effort in the buildup to Williams’ disallowed goal, Forest’s sole shot on target was a 30-yard daisy-cutter from James McAtee. No wonder both teams remain winless. Spurs’s home game with Everton next weekend has just taken on another layer of significance and the same applies for Forest and their trip to Aston Villa.The moment that will dominate the discourse will be Williams’ disallowed goal. Liam Delap, on his first Forest start, released Gibbs-White with a cute pass and while the Forest captain could not trap the ball, he got a shot away. Tonali recorded a swing and a miss as he attempted to clear on the goalline and Williams was hungrier than Van Hecke. But the video assistant referee, Peter Bankes, checked the goal and then the referee, Craig Pawson, took to the mic before awarding a Spurs free-kick amid a chorus of boos from the home support: “After review, the ball touches the hand of Nottingham Forest’s No 3 before the goal is scored.”Spurs’ Mykhailo Mudryk came on as a late substitute for his first competitive appearance for 645 days. Photograph: Andrew Boyers/Action Images/ReutersFor so long, the teams’ stubborn three-man defences seemed to neutralise each other. It was hard to escape the sense there was always an extra defender on hand to extinguish even the tamest of attacks – and there were plenty of those. The Forest centre-back Murillo took matters into his own hands in the first half, his spectacular overhead-kick flying over the bar after a recycled corner.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionVinai Venkatesham, the Tottenham chief executive in attendance, could be forgiven for wondering when Spurs will see the fruits of their aggressive £300m-plus recruitment drive. Much of the focus had centred on strengthening the Spurs attack. They turned to Mudryk, who replaced Mathys Tel with 16 minutes of normal time remaining, after the failure to sell Richarlison halted moves for preferred targets Cody Gakpo and Iliman Ndiaye. This was not the desired result.