Only one striker in the Premier League has more goals than Chris Wood this season.
By Sam McGuire
The Nottingham Forest powerhouse netted twice against Leicester City on Friday night to take his haul for the campaign to seven. Not bad for a player who has racked up just 727 minutes in the English top-flight this term.
In fact, only two players in the English top-flight have more goals than the 32-year-old. Erling Haaland, of course, leads the way with 11 while Bryan Mbeumo kept up his surprising start to the season with a double against Ipswich Town on Saturday to take his tally to eight. The versatile attacker has scored twice from the spot for the Bees to boost his tally though.
When looking at out-and-out No. 9s in the Premier League, Haaland is the only one to surpass Chris Wood. The former Newcastle United attacker isn’t getting the plaudits going the way of Nicolas Jackson (six goals), Liam Delap (five goals) or Ollie Watkins (five goals), but he’s arguably had a better start to the season than the aforementioned trio.
His goals have fired Forest into seventh place in the English top-flight. They’re already on 16 points from their nine games and they’ve lost just once. For added context here, Nuno Espírito Santo’s men finished 17th last term on 32 points.
Forest are halfway to that haul already with 29 matches left to play.
They survived last season because of the goals scored by Wood. He netted 14 in the Premier League, the joint-most of his career. This season, they’re thriving as a result of his goals.
He’s been responsible for 64% of their goals this term.
Wood doesn’t have an eye on the Golden Boot. It is safe to say he’s just enjoying his football again. Speaking after the win over one of his former teams, Leicester, he said: “I just want to keep scoring as many as I can. He’s [Haaland] a very formidable man, and he’s probably going to score 30 goals this season. He’s a very formidable man to chase. He’s [Nuno Espiríto Santo] come in and put an emphasis on putting the ball in the box. He’s worked on that in the training pitch.”
Nuno also sung the praises of his in-form forward, saying Wood deserves all the praise he is receiving at the moment: “He’s done an amazing job. He’s very honest and he gives everything on the pitch for us. We are delighted and we want to continue. Chris deserves his plaudits.”
It is very much a team effort at the City Ground.
Forest have the second-best defensive record in the Premier League having conceded just seven goals in their nine outings. They aren’t free-scorers by any stretch of the imagination, finding the back of the net on just 11 occasions. But they’re setting up situations and scenarios to ensure Wood’s goals matter.
They’re also playing to his strengths.
When looking at his Player Traits Radar, Wood wins headers and scores goals.
He gives Forest an out ball. He’s there to relieve the pressure by winning close to 80% of his aerial duels. And then he’s a goalscorer. It is everything they want and need from the 6ft3 centre-forward.
Wood, who made the FotMob Team of the Week for Matchday nine with his 8.8 rating in the game against the Foxes, is full of confidence and that is a significant reason as to why he’s in such fine form.
Last season, the Forest No11 was averaging 2.39 shots per 90 and he had an Expected Goals average of 0.59. His finishing was fine, with an Expected Goals-on-target average of 0.53. He wasn’t adding value to his chances but he wasn’t necessarily devaluing his attempts. Well, not by much. He was finishing at the rate he was expected. Forest created chances for him and he converted.
This season, however, he’s stepped things up.
He’s attempting a similar number of efforts on a per 90 basis (2.35) but his Expected Goals average has taken a bit of a bit, coming in at 0.46. The big difference is his finishing. His Expected Goals on Target average is 0.7. He’s adding real value to his attempts and this is what is making him even more prolific than last season. You can see it when looking at his shot map (above). A lot of his efforts are hitting the corners. In fact, all but one of his goals this season have been in the corners of the goal.
Forest need to make sure they capitalise on this hot streak. As is, he’ll continue to be a threat, the underlying numbers are sustainable, but he might not continue to be the goal machine he currently is. At some point, the hot streak will come to an end. While he’s full of confidence, though, there’s no reason his goals couldn’t prolong Nottingham Forest’s unlikely European pursuit.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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