WHEN you think of the best goal scorers currently plying their trade in the Premier League, you’d be forgiven for instantly thinking of the likes of Erling Haaland, Mo Salah and Cole Palmer.

All three of those find themselves in fantastic form of late in front of goal, but as all three are surrounded by teams crammed full of talent, their goalscoring exploits perhaps shouldn’t surprise too much.

But amongst the top scorers in this season’s competition, Nottingham Forest’s Chris Wood again features, a player who has now been in excellent form for nearly an entire year. In a side who were tipped by many in pre-season to be involved in another relegation dogfight this campaign, the New Zealand international is instead helping his side to push towards the European places at present.

So often is the case in football that a change of manager can inspire players to perform to a higher degree. That’s perhaps best highlighted in recent competition history by the form of Chris Wood since Nuno Espirito Santo took over at the City Ground back in late December 2023.

Through his first 17 Premier League matches during the 2023-24 season, the Kiwi had netted just three goals, all three of which came against eventually relegated teams – a late winner vs Sheffield United and a brace against Luton Town.

Skip forward ten months later, and now Wood has struck 18 goals across his last 25 matches in the competition; a simply stunning return whilst playing for a team like Forest.

That’s not meant to sound as a dig at the Tricky Trees, but rather a sentiment that emphasises just how good their star striker has been in that time, especially as the likes of Alexander Isak, Phil Foden and Ollie Watkins all sit behind him on that goalscoring list.

Since Santo took charge in the dug-out on the banks of the River Trent, Everton (40%) are the only ever-present top-flight team to have averaged less possession per game than Forest (40.4%) for instance, whilst ten sides in total have accumulated more shots than the 1977-78 First Division champions (395).  

Due to that, Wood has had to take his chances when they’ve arrived and in fairness, he’s done just that.

Since the change in management at Forest on December 20^th last year, the 32-year-old has recorded a 32.1% shot conversion rate in the English top-flight. Of the 22 players to net 10+ goals in that time frame, that ranks him fourth overall, behind only Rasmus Hojlund (11 at 45.8%), Jean-Philippe Mateta (17 at 35.4%) and Yoane Wissa (14 at 35%).

But what’s even more impressive is when you take a look through the history books and match up Wood’s shot conversion rate throughout time when compared to some of the Premier League’s most prolific scorers.

His 20.6% success rate since making his debut for West Brom against Portsmouth in April 2009 at 17 years and 125 days ranks him above the likes of Sergio Agüero, Harry Kane and Mo Salah.

In fact, at one point last season he even held the record for the best conversion rate of any player in Premier League history who had attempted 30+ shots in a single campaign.

It’s now not out of the question that Wood could hit 100 Premier League goals by the end of his career, as he sits on 76 at present. That could be deemed even more likely if he is to sign another contract extension in the very near future with journalists currently reported that that a case of when, and not if.

In terms of the competition’s all-time scoring list, he presently sits alongside Daniel Sturridge on that tally, with Tony Cottee (78), Theo Walcott (80) and Gary Speed (80) the next players for Wood to surpass.

Further up the road sit the likes of Roberto Firmino (82), Chris Sutton (83), Carlos Tevez (84), Fernando Torres (85) and Dennis Bergkamp (87), totals that remain relatively easy for the Forest star to eclipse before the end of this current season.

There’s also other history to chase first though, as Wood looks to become Nottingham Forest’s leading scorer in Premier League history.

He sits just three goals shy of surpassing Bryan Roy who leads the way on 24 goals in the competition for the Midlands outfit, a tally that he could surpass this weekend against West Ham by netting just the third top-flight hat-trick of his career. 

For a player who’s turned out for the likes of Burnley, Leicester City, Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest and Leicester City in the Premier League during his career, it’s difficult not to be happy for Chris Wood and root for his goalscoring exploits to continue to as long as possible. 

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