All Whites striker Chris Wood is grabbing headlines across the English Premier League, after scoring seven goals in nine games this season. His brace last Saturday took Nottingham Forest into seventh, with Wood scoring 69% of the team’s goals. The 32-year-old talked with Michael Burgess about the beginning of his personal renaissance across an eventful 2023-24 season.
By any measure, Chris Wood is having the time of his life. The All Whites striker has had some great periods before in England but nothing quite like this. After a quarter of the English Premier League season, only two players, including Manchester City’s Erling Haaland (11), have more goals than the New Zealander (7).
Wood is ahead of the likes of Liverpool’s Mo Salah and England striker Ollie Watkins, and has the league’s best goal conversion rate, with his tally coming from just 18 shots. But Wood has been on a hot streak since mid-December last year when manager Nuno Espirito Santo took over at Nottingham Forest. He has scored 18 goals in 25 games since Nuno’s appointment – only Norwegian superstar Haaland and Chelsea gun Cole Palmer have managed more league goals in the same period.
Wood’s resurgence has been remarkable, coming off the back of a challenging two-year period. He was under the microscope at Newcastle United – after a huge transfer fee to go there (£25 million) – and had only 19 starts (four goals) in a year at the club, then scored once in his first seven games at Forest bef.
