When Chris Wood scores, Nottingham Forest doesn’t lose.
The tall New Zealander proved this once more on Friday by scoring two goals in a 3-1 victory against Midlands rival Leicester in the English Premier League.
Wood’s goals in the second half were his sixth and seventh in just nine games. Every time he has scored, Forest has either won or drawn.
“It’s all down to the team,” said Wood, who remained humble. “They supply me with a lot of chances. I’m not one who’s going to beat four players and stick one in the top corner. I rely on the service of my teammates, and they just keep delivering for me.”
This win came just five days after Wood scored to help Forest beat Crystal Palace 1-0, moving Nuno Espirito Santos’ upbeat team from eighth place to fifth. Leicester is currently in 14th place.
Ryan Yates gave Forest the lead with a beautiful goal after 16 minutes. The Leicester defense couldn’t clear the ball properly, and a misplayed clearance ended up at Yates’ feet, allowing him to fire a low shot into the bottom corner from 25 meters away.
Leicester’s star player, Jamie Vardy, equalized seven minutes later by slipping between defenders to tap in a cross from Harry Winks.
A fantastic save from Mads Hermansen stopped Nicolás Dominguez from putting Forest ahead again just two minutes later, but the visitors took charge of the game after halftime.
At 47 minutes, Wood had his back to the goal with six defenders close by, but they couldn’t stop him as he turned and hit an unstoppable shot into the corner of the net.
His third goal came an hour into the game when a weak header from defender Wout Faes fell right to him, allowing Wood to head it over the stranded keeper Hermansen.
Leicester’s coach, Steve Cooper, is still respected at Forest, the team he led back to the Premier League after 23 years away in 2022. However, he was critical of his team’s mistakes on Friday.
“It’s self-inflicted,” he said. “We all have to take responsibility for how the game panned out.
“We made some poor mistakes for the goals. Conceding so early in the second half was not a good thing, but there was still plenty of time to settle back into the game. The third goal was just a real killer. We lost any sort of rhythm we had in the first half. It’s on us, and it’s a setback after winning a few games recently.”
