Chris Wood is nearing a return to first-team action.
The Nottingham Forest striker, who has not played since injuring his knee against Chelsea in October, featured in the first half of a match for the club’s under-21 side last Friday and scored the opener in a 3-0 win.
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If and when he returns, it will give boss Vitor Pereira another attacking option in both the Premier League survival battle and the latter stages of the Europa League.
Asked last week whether Wood could return for Forest’s first Premier League match back against Aston Villa, Pereira said: “I don’t know, I don’t have the information about it. But he is another leader, a fantastic player and character, and we need him for the last games.”
Wood was a leading light in Forest’s exceptional 2024-25 season, scoring 20 league goals under Nuno Espirito Santo.
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While this was a spectacular career-high return, he scored a key equaliser against Manchester City in the second half of the 2022-23 season during an injury-hit initial loan from Newcastle and was Forest’s top scorer with 14 league goals in the 2023-24 season after making the move permanent.
A dramatic and chaotic drop-off by Forest this campaign has coincided with Wood’s lengthy absence, elongated by requiring surgery in December.
While not being overly impressive, Forest scored 58 goals last season – averaging 1.42 per game, with Wood providing 34.8% of them. This season they have scored 31 times in 31 games so far – a one goal per game average – with Wood scoring just twice on the opening day.
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Since his arrival at the City Ground in January 2023, Forest have played 67 games in which Wood has started, winning 25 times, and 59 games in which he has not, winning 15 times.
Forest’s win percentage with him starting is 37.3% with a points-per-game rate of 1.4, while it is 25.4% without him with a points-per-game of 1.0.
His impact on their attacking output is shown in their goals per game dropping from 1.4 in games Wood starts to 1.1 in games he does not.
Forest fans – how much have you missed Wood this season? And what impact could he have on the rest of the campaign when he returns from injury?
[BBC]