3️⃣ points as Wolves and Leicester share the love and points | OneFootball

Wolves and Leicester City shared both the love and the points on Valentine’s Day at Molineux as they played out their second scoreless stalemate of the season.

This is what we made of it.

Both Champions League bound?

This game started just an hour after the news from UEFA headquarters that shook football.

That was, of course, that unless Manchester City are successful in their appeal, they will be banned from Europe for the next two years.

Which now means that the Premier League’s fifth-placed side will punch the most lucrative ticket in the game into the Champions League.

And after this result, Wolves now sit just two points off fifth place, with the Foxes comfortably ahead and all but assured of a return to the top table.

They could have even been further in the hunt had VAR not snatched away a potential winner from Willy Boly in the first half.

But more on that shortly. First, we must simply acknowledge that Nuno Espírito Santo’s men are very much in the fight given events earlier today.

Could you imagine England’s top flight being represented next season in the biggest club competition by Liverpool, Leicester, Sheffield United and Wolves?

We’re desperate to see it.

VAR robs Wolves again

History repeated itself at Molineux on Friday night.

When these sides met on the opening weekend of the season, VAR gave a sign of what was to come.

On that occasion, Leander Dendoncker had a potential winning goal ruled out when VAR teamed up with the new handball rule to deny the 24-year-old a winner.

The man who was blamed on that occasion for the inadvertent use of an arm, Boly, was denied again – this time when his header was ruled out by VAR for an offside in the build-up.

Like so many decisions involving VAR and the Wanderers this season, it was questionable at best and downright awful at worst.

“It is killing the spirit of the game,” Nuno bemoaned after the denial on the opening weekend. Penny for his thoughts now.

Wolves have now had seven VAR decisions go against them this season, with just two in their favour.

This was one of the worst and certainly the most frustrating. We don’t like to keep talking about it and you are probably fed up hearing about it.

But as long as it is around, the poor decisions must be called out.

Foxes’ lack sharpness after relaxes break

These two sides had rather contrasting winter breaks.

While Wolves opted for a warm weather training camp in Marbella, Brendan Rodgers went for a more relaxed approach (having experienced the other side of it with Dubai trips when at Celtic).

The Irishman felt that his side saw enough of each other during the season and allowed his players some family time or a period of rest away from England if they desired it.

“Breaking the cycle of football was important due to both the physical and mental pressures,” he reasoned.

But his team came back after the break looking just a little bit away from their free-flowing best.

Had Boly’s aforementioned strike stood or Raul Jiménez not missed a glorious unmarked headed chance in the final minute, it could have ended in defeat.

It will have been disappointing to see Hamza Choudhury shown the line for a red card but it wasn’t all bad news for the Foxes.

Harvey Barnes looked very bright and lively and was his side’s biggest threat, while Çağlar Söyüncü was very impressive again.

With some winnable fixtures on the slate after Manchester City visit town, Leicester won’t be too worried about this one.