Why One of the League’s Best Forwards Isn’t Getting the Praise He Deserves

With the Premier League now back underway, everyone’s eyes were on their Fantasy Premier League teams, hoping Erling Haaland and Jean-Philippe Mateta would fire from the first whistle.

Attention was also paid to new boys expected to shine in João Pedro, Liam Delap, and Igor Thiago on their debuts for their new clubs.

However, Nottingham Forest’s star man Chris Wood flew completely under the radar, despite carrying his amazing goal record into the new campaign. The Kiwi forward didn’t contribute much over pre-season in comparison to the likes of the Eagles’ frontman, which is perhaps why he went unnoticed to many, but he has proven why he is one of the league’s most clinical strikers.

One Season Wonder Talks Shrugged Off

Any fans claiming the Kiwi would be another one season wonder were silenced by the end of the first half at The City Ground on Sunday afternoon, as Wood’s brace helped Forest build a secure three-goal lead just 45 minutes into the new season.

The perfect start to the season for @NFFC 😮‍💨

Chris Wood scored either side of debutant Dan Ndoye's diving header pic.twitter.com/dIHsIuSVZM

— Premier League (@premierleague) August 17, 2025

After bagging 20 goals last campaign and helping the Reds to experience European nights in Nottingham once again for the first time in almost three decades, Wood will need to be at his clinical best again this season if Forest are to not only make fans proud in the Europa League, but to also ensure their domestic form doesn’t slip as a result.

The Kiwi man is required to have a vastly different set of skills to other forwards in the division. His positioning and strength are the key to unlock the scoring success he has, as he makes do with every little space there is.

A Stats Deep Dive

Chris Wood doesn’t get the number of chances that other Golden Boot contenders receive, which is why it makes it even more impressive that he can actually contest some of the Premier League’s top goalscorers.

Last season, the Reds number 11 finished joint-fourth in the Golden Boot, trailing only Haaland, Alexander Isak, and Mo Salah, so in this section they will be the three we will compare him to.

Firstly, when looking into these stats on statmuse, you can quickly see that Wood played two matches less than Salah, but two more than Isak, and five more than Haaland. Despite this, they all managed to acquire 30+ more shots than the Forest striker, with Salah and Haaland both achieving 25+ more shots on target too.

However, Wood’s 20 goals were just two behind the City striker, and nine behind the Egyptian. Furthermore, only three of Wood’s 20 strikes were from the penalty spot, compared to nine of Salah and four of Isak.

More importantly, however, Wood’s ruthlessness in front of goal is displayed when calculating each forward’s shot conversion rate. Salah’s 29 strikes came at just 22.3%, suggesting he needed over four shots to score. Isak’s stood at 23.23%, slightly better than Salah, but still over four shots of his equated to a goal. Despite the quality-of-service Haaland received, his 20.18% was a very low figure.

However, it is worth noting these figures rose to 47.5%, 50%, and 36.67% when calculated from their shots on target. Wood, however, stood out emphatically. He scored 29.4% of his shots, which rises to an impressive 57.14% when just counting his strikes on target.

Moreover, only Ipswich (40.3%) and Everton (40.7%) held less average possession than the Tricky Trees managed last campaign (40.9%). This would suggest that chances to score came few and far between due to the rare opportunities they managed to have on the ball. This is why the pace of Anthony Elanga, for example, was so integral to the success of Wood’s scoring figures, with the quick counterattacks paired with Wood’s elite in-the-box positioning. Match that with Morgan Gibbs-White’s footballing IQ and awareness, Forest had two threats either side of the strong physique of Chris Wood in the middle.

This resulted in the two players on the flanks accumulating 20 assists. Only the relegated teams plus Wolves and Brentford also created less chances than Forest last season, which reflected in Forest’s expected 13th place finish on Opta’s expected points table. Forest and Wood’s clinical finishing was also illustrated by the team scoring 12 more goals than expected.

Lastly, only six Premier League clubs had achieved a higher conversion rate from their created chances than Forest, who were more clinical as a team than Chelsea, and both Manchester clubs. All of this was largely because of Chris Wood.

Why Is He Not Getting More Praise

You begin to think what more Wood can do to be noticed, but equally he is also just excelling at his job very quietly, and very efficiently.

His two goals scored on the opening weekend against Brentford came at a 0.95 xG, so he is already matching his incredible record in front of goal of last season, while the team scored three goals overall, at an xG of 1.86, suggesting that the departure of Elanga may not be missed as greatly as firstly anticipated.

If he can keep scoring at the rate of knots, there is no doubt he will start receiving big praise from clubs all over Europe. The only issue for the Kiwi forward remains his age – at 33, it could be rather challenging to catch the eye of a European giant his record deserves, who may decide to go for someone with potential, with the desire for a long-term fit.