“Chris Wood, the forward from New Zealand, is in tremendous form these days, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Erling Haaland and Cole Palmer in the list of top scorers in the Premier League. Ever since Nuno Espírito Santo assumed his role at the City Ground just prior to the previous festive season, Wood has been on fire, amassing 16 goals to his name. Indeed, his decisive goal in the second half of the recent clash against Crystal Palace, led Nottingham Forest to savour their maiden home victory of the season.
Despite Nuno being given a three-match touchline ban, celebrations were in order with Wood nearing his 33rd birthday. His scoring capabilities this season, with five league goals already, has helped push Forest to a comfortable eighth position in the league standings following a hard-fought win over the Palace side who are currently battling relegation.
Having had three promising opportunities in the opening half pass him by, it was Wood’s shot that finally sealed the deal for the game. Former Forest goalkeeper, Dean Henderson inadvertently contributed to the win, failing to effectively block Wood’s 20-yard strike.
In Forest’s Premier League history, Bryan Roy and Stan Collymore are the only other individuals to match Wood’s accomplishment of 20 goals. Despite the ongoing suspensions of Nuno, club owner Evangelos Marinakis and team captain Morgan Gibbs-White for their misconduct on the touchline and tunnel, as well as James Ward-Prowse’s red card in their 1-1 encounter with Chelsea, Forest has demonstrated their tenacity, showing they’re resilient rather than depleted.”
Although Forest’s disciplinary issues emerged during a promising start to their campaign, they have not won any home games at the City Ground this season, indicating the need for stability in Forest’s turbulent season. Despite these setbacks, the opportunity remained for them to equalize their score with Tottenham, in seventh place, underlining their impressive performance in away games. Their focus was on dismantling a Palace team that had yet to clinch a league victory.
In the early stages of the game, Forest dominated possession but left a significant gap in their defence, nearly giving Palace an advantage. Eberichi Eze, in his flexible role occasionally leading ahead of Eddie Nketiah, capitalised on this opportunity and nearly scored, missing only by a narrow margin.
During the initial half, Forest produced three prime scoring chances for Chris Wood. However, Nketiah almost stole the spotlight for Palace by moving into the same unoccupied zone that neither Ryan Yates nor Nicolás Domínguez had marked defensively. Unfortunately for the £25 million ex-Arsenal forward, his potent strike hit the outside of the post.
On the opposite side, Yates had an attempt that ricocheted off the woodwork. As for Wood, typically a high scorer, it remains a mystery how he did not add to his score before halftime.
In the second half, it was Palace who came close to an opening score. Matz Sels made a fantastic save against a volley from Eze and blocked Daichi Kamada’s follow-up, despite Kamada being offside.
Álex Moreno stepped in at the right moment to prevent Forest’s fall when he defended against a shot by Will Hughes, following Nketiah’s promising effort on the left wing.
Feeling the pressure, Forest’s assistant head coach, Rui Pedro Silva, probably in coordination with Nuno, prepared Jota Silva to enter the pitch while Eze missed his shots from distance, the first blocked by Selz and the second deflected.
Wood’s significant opportunity finally arrived. It’s fair to say, he’d made numerous attempts prior to this. Despite Trevor Chalobah’s feeble header clearance from the right corner of the penalty box, Wood swiftly fired a low shot from 20 yards. Sadly, it slipped beneath the right arm of a despairing Henderson. – Guardian