How has Chris Wood become such a dominant force this season?

Chris Wood is enjoying his best goalscoring season to date in the Premier League this season. The New Zealand international has netted 18 times from 28 games this season, picking up a player of the month award along the way. Wood has already beaten his goalscoring record of 14 in a season and could be on set to be the top goal scorer across the league. So, how has a man at the age of 33, supposedly coming to the end of his career, become in contention for the golden boot?

Early career

Wood first made his debut in the Premier League in 2009, coming on as a substitute for West Bromwich Albion at just 17 years old, having moved to England from New Zealand at 16. He then went on to have various loan spells at the likes of Brighton, Millwall, Birmingham and Leicester. He signed permanently for the latter in 2013. His first goal in the Premier League came for the foxes in the 2014 season, and it was his only goal from seven appearances. At the end of the season, Wood joined Leeds United.

Following a positive spell at Leeds, scoring 41 goals from 83 games, Burnley signed the Kiwi for £15million. Burnley were a side who could play to Wood’s strengths, as he could use his large frame and physique to hold onto the ball and outmuscle defenders to get to the ball first. Sean Dyche’s Burnley sides were deployed in fairly simple fashion. Get balls into wide areas and find a head in the box, and they weren’t afraid to go direct. Football like this would help Wood launch his Premier League career, as he could use his body and wait for service to arrive in the box. In his debut Burnley season, Wood managed to find the net 10 times in 24 games and scored the same amount the season after from 38 games. Wood was starting to prove himself as a reliable source of goals. Yes, he may not be the most fashionable striker in the modern era, and he may not work for sides playing neater football, but the man can get the job done in the struggling midtable sides. The only way clubs in the lower end of the Premier League table can give them a chance of building something, they need a reliable goal scorer, who can guarantee goals each season. Chris Wood epitomises that, as he scored at least 10 goals in each season with Burnley, apart from his final season where he left for Newcastle United in January.

After a tricky spell at Newcastle, with most of his appearances coming from off the bench, Wood secured a loan move to Nottingham Forest, before making the move permanent. His first full season for Forest wasn’t a bad one, netting 14 goals in just 20 starts. Wood was again proving that he hadn’t lost it and could still guarantee lower midtable sides that he can provide goals in abundance.

Fast forward to the present, and Wood has already beaten his tally last season, scoring 18 goals with still 10 games left of the season. The New Zealander has taken his Nottingham Forest team up to third in the League. It’s not been all of his doing though, as Forest have generally been an extremely difficult side to beat this season.

Why has Wood been in top form?

Nottingham Forest have themselves a well-experienced manager in Nuno Espirito Santos, who is very good at coaching defensive solidity into his side and creating efficient counter attacking sides. Forest have an extremely physical squad, with players such as Nikola Milenkovic, Murillo, Ryan Yates, Chris Wood himself. Physical players like this means Forest can be defensively solid and soak up opposition attacks. Forest press in central areas, putting pressure on opposition midfielders who struggle to play around the press. From this, Forest can use their highly energetic wide players Anthony Elanga and Callum Hudson-Odoi as well as Morgan Gibbs-White, to counter quickly and get balls into the box.

🌳✨ Nottingham Forest are currently 3rd in Premier League table with 24 goals scored, 19 conceded…

…and 34 points in 18 games. 👏🏻 pic.twitter.com/RAgwmPiycE

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) December 26, 2024

Football like this can work well with Chris wood. Wood isn’t left with the task of carrying the ball over long distances, something which he can’t necessarily do as well. He can leave the attacking responsibility to Hudson-Odoi and Elanga who can use their pace to exploit space in behind, with Gibbs-White able to pick them out. From this, Wood is able to get himself into dangerous positions inside the opposition penalty area and can rely on the quality of his fellow attackers to find him in those situations, leaving him with the fairly simple task of putting the ball in the net.

Top level management

As mentioned before, we know that Chris Wood can be classified as a top class Premier League player and will guarantee goals no matter what side he plays for. In his Burnley era he was more than capable of finding the net, and that was down to style. Burnley suited Wood because of his physical prowess in the penalty area, and he could go toe to toe with any defender up against him. Nuno Espirito Santos has been able to pick up on that, and it means he can get the best out of his New Zealand striker consistently, and Nuno has also used Wood as a way to involve other attackers in play. Anthony Elanga and Callum Hudson-Odoi are wingers coming from top sides in Manchester United and Chelsea, sides who would see more of the ball and be looking to dominate games. They haven’t necessarily played in sides before where defensive solidity is key and where they can be seen as focal points for the counterattack. Elanga and Hudson-Odoi are both players with high pace and raw skill, who can quickly get away from defenders before delivering into the box. Nuno has been able to utilise this to get the best out of Wood, as Wood has less pressure on crafting his own chances and can instead hold the ball up before waiting for his wingers to create space in behind.

Chris Wood under Nuno Espírito Santo:

30 goals
3 assists

Proper number 9. pic.twitter.com/OCvcS4m8gJ

— StatMuse FC (@statmusefc) February 15, 2025

This is what makes it so easy for Wood this season, as he now has less build up responsibilities and less defensive requirements. Looking at his stats across the season on fbref, Wood this season only has 13 progressive carries, and of those 13 carries he only carried the ball 411 yards. On the other hand, Hudson-Odoi has a total of 103 progressive carries, carrying the ball just under 2800 yards. Elanga has 72 progressive carries, carrying the ball 1834 yards. These stats can paint a picture to all fans who haven’t watched Forest this season. Chris Wood has minimal responsibilities, as his coach is aware of his weaknesses in build-up play and has played to Woods strengths and is now reaping the benefits.

This has heavily contributed to Woods dominance this season, as across his career he has played for sides where he has less work with the ball at his feet and can play to his strengths. It was key that the players around him would be of high quality and can be relied on to do the work in the buildup. Forest recruited well in Elanga and Hudson-Odoi, as they are both powerful and dangerous with the ball at their feet, Espirito Santos knows he can rely on them doing the extra work so that Chris Wood can focus on getting himself into the right positions, and converting the chances given to him. As of Opta stats, 73.3% of his shots are with his first touch, and 94.1% of his goals were first time finishes. This shows that Wood is solely focused on getting shots off and being efficient in the box.

So, there we have it. Why is Chris wood such a dominant force this season? Simple, he has got a top level coach who knows how to get the best out him, and the players around him in this team come with high technical ability, meaning that they can do the work in the buildup for him, and Wood can rely on getting good quality of service each game. Wood is getting closer to the end of his career, but he only seems to be getting better, and could come close to getting the golden boot this season. It will be interesting to see how this season pans out for sure, and see where Chris Wood can take his career to.