Chris Wood injury update: All Whites star set for Nottingham Forest return

All Whites captain Chris Wood could return to action for Nottingham Forest for the last two months of their English Premier League football campaign, after recovering from a knee injury.

Wood played for the club’s second team over the weekend and Forest manager Vitor Pereira said the prolific striker would rejoin his squad to train during the looming international window and could be available as soon as their next match, against Aston Villa on April 13.

“Now we have time with him to start working with the team and to increase his level and his confidence,” Pereira told reporters after Forest’s crucial 3-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur in London this morning.

“And I think he will be able to help us in the next games.”

The update will delight New Zealand fans, with Wood’s place at the mid-year Fifa World Cup having been under a cloud since undergoing knee surgery in December.

Before the weekend’s match, the 34-year-old hasn’t played since injuring his knee during a Premier League match against Chelsea in mid-October, with his absence keenly felt.

Wood’s absence for the All Whites has extended into the looming friendly internationals against Finland and Chile in Auckland.

Forest have been sucked into a relegation battle over the closing weeks of the English season, although their win over Spurs has given them some respite, lifting them to 16th, three points outside the drop zone with seven games to play.

Last year, Wood scored a club-record 20 Premier League goals as they finished seventh and earned a long-awaited return to Europe.

Wood scored via a close-range header early in the match for Nottingham Forest B against Newcastle United’s Under-21s on Saturday, helping them to a 3-0 win.

The All Whites are scheduled to open their World Cup campaign at the home of the Los Angeles Rams, where they are to face Iran on June 16.

There is doubt over who their opponent will be for the fixture after the Iranians asked Fifa to relocate the match as a result of their country’s recent conflict with the United States and Israel. Fifa has effectively ruled out moving the match to either Mexico or Canada, the two other nations hosting the tournament.

The All Whites’ other two group matches are in Vancouver, where they face Egypt (June 22) and Belgium (June 27).

– RNZ