Football round-up: New Zealand's Chris Wood enters elite Premier League company

RNZ News

12-05-2025

Chris Wood acknowledges the fans after the draw in the Premier League match between Nottingham Forest FC and Leicester City FC at City Ground.
Photo:It was a
trademark Chris Wood goal
. A stooping diving header from the All Whites captain which brought his Premier League haul for the 2024-25 season to 20 and counting - and in doing so, inducted himself into one of the division's most exclusive clubs.
The goal came against his former club Leicester City and capped off what has been a career-best top-flight campaign for the Nottingham Forest forward. His form has helped power Forest to a completely unpredicted challenge for European football.
But in terms of a personal landmark, Wood now becomes just the 51st player in the 32-year history of the Premier League to hit the 20-goal mark in a single season. Tottenham Hotspur's Teddy Sheringham was the first in 1992-93, while Alexander Isak, Wood's replacement at Newcastle United, was number 50 last term. Alan Shearer managed it seven times in total with Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle. Harry Kane and Sergio Aguero did it six times with Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City respectively, while 18 other players have done it on multiple occasions.
Players like James Beattie, Danny Ings and Ivan Toney have all achieved the feat - hardly household names, with the greatest of respect.
So you might be thinking, so what? But the impressiveness of the feat is best explained by those who never quite managed it.
Chris Wood scores his team's second goal during the Premier League match between Nottingham Forest FC and Leicester City FC at City Ground on May 11, 2025 in Nottingham.
Photo:Take Jermain Defoe for example. In his Premier League career at West Ham, Portsmouth, Sunderland and, most significantly, Tottenham Hotspur, the hotshot scored 162 goals, the 10th highest in Premier League history. His 24 goals off the bench count him as the league's most prolific super-sub. He is also one of only three players to have scored five goals in a single game.
But for all his brilliance and goal-scoring acumen, he never scored 20 goals in a Premier League season. He shares that position with other iconic names like Michael Owen, Eric Cantona, Dennis Bergkamp, Gianfranco Zola and many more.
Meanwhile, there's a long list of names who only ever made it to 19 goals but fell short of 20. Eleven in total - Dean Holdsworth, Mark Bright, Michael Bridges, Marcus Stewart, Roque Santa Cruz, Nicolas Anelka, Christian Benteke, Phil Foden, Dominic Solanke and Ollie Watkins - have all found out how hard it is to break that barrier. Michael Owen, a 2001 World Footballer of the Year, fell short by one goal on two occasions.
Wood looked like he might be heading for the same fate. In mid-February, he scored his 18th goal of the season with 13 games left to find two more. But a dip in form and an injury suffered on international duty slowed his progress.
In the end, though, he delivered, and his strike against the relegated Foxes puts him in rare company, capping off a magnificent individual campaign in style and with two more games to add to that goal tally.
In other football news:
If Auckland City are going to be crowned overall A-League champions in their debut season it seems they will need to take on the whole of Melbourne to do so. They will face Melbourne Victory in the semi-finals of the A-League Finals Series - after the Dark Blues defeated Western Sydney Wanderers in their Elimination Series tie.
Melbourne City and Western United, two more of Victoria's finest, face off in the other semi and will await Auckland in the Grand Final should they advance. They may as well line up the Storm, the Hemsworths and the Minogues if the Black Knights need any more Melbournians to slay in the coming weeks.
Speaking of celebrity clout, the Wellington Phoenix will be taking on the sportumentary juggernaut that is the Ryan Reynolds-Rob McElhenny owned Wrexham FC on July 19. The Hollywood bromantics will need to remember their warm layers as It's Always Windy in Wellington, and not even Deadpool can regenerate from a southerly chill.
Auckland United are well on their way to defending their OFC Women's Champions League title. Two wins from their opening two group games have them into the semi-finals in Tahiti with a game to spare.