Leicester were held to a scrappy stalemate at Wolves as the Foxes missed the chance to apply some serious pressure at the top of the Premier League.

Brendan Rodgers' side would have gone level with Manchester United in second with victory but were forced to settle for a 0-0 draw at Molineux.

They rarely threatened, even when Jamie Vardy made his return after brief lay-off following groin surgery. However, the striker headed wide in added time.

Joao Moutinho fired over for the hosts, who remain 14th with just one win in their last 10 games, while Kasper Schmeichel's excellent late save denied Fabio Silva.

The Foxes stay third, four points above fifth-placed West Ham in the battle for the Champions League spots.

The visitors never hit top gear and Wolves created the best openings, the first coming when Ruben Neves volleyed over Pedro Neto's corner.

Soon after, Neto shook off Youri Tielemans and breezed past Jonny Evans to cross for Adama Traore, only for James Justin's excellent block to turn the ball wide.

It was a rare opening during a combative half where neither side found their true rhythm.

Kelechi Iheanacho's eager runs went unrewarded and Harvey Barnes struggled to influence on the left while Willian Jose was starved of service for the hosts.

Even when Neto, Wolves' best outlet, bamboozled Ricardo Pereira his cross lacked accuracy.

Rui Patricio claimed James Maddison's free kick at the second attempt just before the half hour and when the midfielder threatened again from close range he was penalised for kicking Jonny.

It was typical of a scrappy half and, while Maddison shot at Patricio, there was no suggestion of a breakthrough, a theme which continued when Neves drove over after the break.

Leicester, with midfield riches in Tielemans, Maddison and Barnes, are not over-reliant on Vardy but his stand-ins of Iheanacho and Ayoze Perez never carry the same threat.

Perez seemed to be out of sync with his team-mates and it was no surprise when Vardy and Marc Albrighton replaced the pair after 61 minutes.

By then, Wolves had gone close when Traore's low ball flashed across goal and Pereira did enough to stop Neto stealing in at the far post.

The hosts threatened again when Moutinho – who scored a stunning winner against Arsenal on Tuesday – wastefully ballooned a fine chance over from the edge of the box.

Wolves had opened up but Max Kilman needed to be alert and block Barnes' low effort after the winger combined with Justin with 17 minutes left.

Schmeichel then brilliantly came to Leicester's rescue when he managed to get a toe on Silva's close-range effort after the ball broke to the striker.

Silva should not have given Schmeichel a chance and, with the miss, went the chance for victory.

Vardy then almost stole the points at the end – but he headed Albrighton's cross wide.