A spectacular finish from Chris Wood has moved Nottingham Forest out of the relegation zone again as it saw the side claim a 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace 1-1 in the English Premier League on Sunday morning.
Wood scored his seventh goal in eight league games near the hour mark. With his back to goal, he looped a deft header over Palace keeper Dean Henderson and into the back of the net to equalise after Jean-Philippe Mateta gave Palace an 11th-minute lead.
The All White’s goal was praised by record Premier League scorer Alan Shearer.
“It’s a difficult technique,” Shearer said. “He’s had a look where the goalkeeper is and he knows he’s not coming, so he’s got to guide that and hope he’s hitting the target, he knows exactly where he is. That’s not an easy header — really clever finish.”
The goal was Wood’s 10th of the season, and while he’s well behind Golden Boot leader Erling Haaland’s 18, he’s among the leaders in several key scoring statistics.
He is scoring every 112 minutes this season; only Haaland and Newcastle’s Alexander Isak are better at 107. But Wood has scored his goals from just 23 shots for a phenomenal conversion rate of 43 per cent, the best in the league. Haaland has needed 75 shots to score his 18 goals, a conversion rate of 24 per cent.
Wood’s shot accuracy of 70 per cent is second-best in the league, with only Phil Foden (71 per cent) ahead of him.
This is the fifth season Wood has cracked double figures in the Premier League. He achieved the feat in his first four years at Burnley during 2017-21 and their relegation in 2022 coincided with his mid-season transfer to Newcastle.
With eight games to play, Wood looks set to challenge his season’s best tally of 14 goals. Wood is the only player among the relegation-threatened clubs to have reached double figures and Forest fans will be hopeful the 32-year-old’s goals can secure their Premier League survival the way they did during his time at Burnley.
Sunday’s match was Forest’s first since receiving a four-point deduction for breaking the competition rules regarding profitability and sustainability which dropped the club into the relegation zone.
The draw lifted Forest one place out of the relegation zone to 17th, ahead of 18th-placed Luton on goal difference.
Forest were the dominant team after conceding but had to be patient before seeing their grip translate into clearcut chances.
Forest came close to being punished again before the interval but were saved by keeper Matz Sels, who denied a good effort by Eberechi Eze.
“We wanted another result. In these games at home, we expect more, we wanted more,” Nottingham Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo said. “The game started badly, so the reaction was a positive, but at the same time, I think we did enough. We were more dominant, we controlled the game.”
Elsewhere, Aston Villa and Tottenham didn’t give up an inch in their fight for fourth place as they both bagged another three points with home wins over Wolverhampton 2-0 and Luton 2-1 respectively. Fourth-placed Villa are three points ahead of Spurs, who have a game in hand.
Eight points behind Tottenham, sixth-placed Manchester United delivered another mediocre display and were lucky to escape from Brentford with a 1-1 draw after a dramatic finish, while Chelsea were held to a 2-2 draw by a Burnley side that played more than half the match with 10 men.
Newcastle pulled off a dramatic win against West Ham, overcoming a 3-1 deficit to win 4-3 at St James’ Park. Isak scored his second penalty of the game in the 77th minute, before a Harvey Barnes double, with goals in the 83rd and 90th minute, sealed the win.