Chris Wood (£6.4m) is now behind only Erling Haaland (£15.4m) for Premier League goals in 2024/25 after a brace on Friday.
Wood’s goals helped Nottingham Forest to a 3-1 win over Leicester City in the Gameweek 9 curtain-raiser.
We cover the game’s main Fantasy Premier League (FPL) talking points in this Scout Notes article.
WOOD INJURY?
Having risen in price overnight, Wood is already racing clear in the ‘transfers in’ stakes ahead of Gameweek 10. Around 50,000 managers have snapped him up since Friday’s deadline, taking his ownership figure past 15%.
However, as you may have seen, a yellow flag has appeared next to his name in FPL.
The Kiwi striker was substituted after 80 minutes at the King Power Stadium and was later spotted with ice on his foot.
Chris Wood is applying some ice to his foot after he was taken off! pic.twitter.com/kZfEt9wfWn
— Football Xtra™ (@FootballXtra0) October 25, 2024
There could be nothing to worry about – the post-game application of ice to knocks and bumps is more common than you might think.
But, based on Nuno Espirito Santo’s typically vague comment below, FPL aren’t taking any chances:
“I hope not. Let’s assess, but I hope not.” – Nuno Espirito Santo on whether Chris Wood has picked up an injury, via the Nottingham Post
The striker himself discussed the knock in a post-match interview:
“He just stood on my foot and it’s one of those. Hopefully, it should be all right. It’s got another week to go [before the next match]. No [nothing serious], nothing too bad.” – Chris Wood
WOOD’S PHENOMENAL RECORD CONTINUES
Above: Premier League players sorted by goals scored since Nuno Espirito Santo’s first match in charge of Nottingham Forest
Wood’s current form is a continuation of his stellar output under Nuno Espirito Santo. Since the Forest manager’s first match in charge last December, Wood trails only Haaland for non-penalty goals (17 v 18). He’s only had 100 more minutes than the big Norwegian, too.
Wood’s finishing has been absolutely ruthless. He’s had fewer shots than 24 other players in those 10 months but 31% of his efforts have found the back of the net. A whopping 58% have ended up on target. Barely anyone can compete with those numbers, not even Haaland (19% and 50% respectively).
His two goals against Leicester were impressive in their own right. The first a turn and shot, the second a looping header after Wout Faes (£4.2m) failed to deal with Matz Sels’ (£4.6m) long punt. Sels claimed the assist for that as it was deemed that Faes’ error didn’t affect the intended destination of Sels’ hoof.
The fixtures are a bit of a mixed bag in the medium term (five of the teams in Europe between Gameweeks 12-18) but you’d fancy Wood in his next three home encounters, fitness permitting:
TALE OF TWO HALVES
The scores, and pretty much the xG, were level after a well-contested first half.
Leicester may have surprised Forest with their tactics, more of which below, as they were able to cut through the visitors’ midfield with unusual ease.
It was something Nuno referred to after the game.
“Even though I thought we were really good in the first half and were organised, they were breaking us through the middle so we had to make adjustments. Even though we were good in the first half, in the second half we were much better.” – Nuno Espirito Santo
Normal service resumed after the interval, with the savvy Santo’s tactical adjustment killing Leicester’s threat. The Foxes could only muster four shots, to the tune of 0.15 expected goals, in the second half.
Forest really are an impressive defensive unit: they’ve only once conceded more than one goal in a match this season. In terms of minutes per xG conceded, there’s just Liverpool ahead of them.
COOPER’S MARESCA TACTICS
As mentioned above, Steve Cooper adjusted his set-up for this match. It was effectively the ‘Maresca’ tactics from last season, with Ricardo Pereira (£4.3m) – making his first league start of 2024/25 – inverting into midfield. Ricardo was in for Victor Kristiansen (£4.5m), whose groin strain kept him out.
Abdul Fatawu (£5.4m) and Stephy Mavididi (£5.3m) were high-and-wide wingers – Cooper hadn’t started both before this, preferring one of his wide-men to play narrowly – with the dangerous Facundo Buonanotte (£5.1m) supporting Jamie Vardy (£5.7m).
It looked promising in the first half but Cooper had no answer to Nuno’s half-time riposte.
“It is self-inflicted. It’s completely on us the way the game panned out, particularly in the second half.” – Steve Cooper
Leicester did, however, keep up an impressive record of scoring in every single league match this season. Only Manchester City can say the same.
Vardy, typically, provided the goal. Overshadowed by Wood’s haul, it’s worth noting that his shot-to-goal conversion rate (36.4%) is almost as good as Wood’s this season (36.8%). He really needs more chances from his teammates, though: he’s averaging a shot just once every 62.5 minutes in 2024/25.
