Wood key to Forest’s hopes of safety

The goals of Wood could prove a crucial factor as Forest battle to preserve their Premier League status.

His well-taken equaliser represented the second time in his top-flight career that he has netted in four successive matches, though he should have added to that when hitting a post soon after.

Wood’s 12 goals this season have all come from open play – putting him level with Mohamed Salah in that regard, and ahead of the likes of Alexander Isak and Darwin Nunez.

The New Zealander is providing the major hope for Nuno Espirito Santo, who suffered a miserable return to one of his former clubs. And the Forest head coach must find a way to fix matters at the other end when it comes to defending set-pieces.

Van de Ven’s strike from a well-worked corner was the 21st goal Forest have conceded in this manner during the season – more than any other team.

Nuno Espirito Santo became the third former Spurs manager to lose their first visit to face Spurs in the Premier League, after Martin Jol and Harry Redknapp; the previous two prior to today both won (Tim Sherwood and Mauricio Pochettino).

Both teams have scored in each of Spurs’ last 12 home Premier League matches (F26 A19) with only Blackpool (17 between August 2010 and April 2011) and Brighton (May 2023 and December 2023) ever seeing longer such runs in the competition.

With Van de Ven and Porro both scoring today, Spurs have now netted 11 Premier League goals via defenders so far this season, the joint-most in the competition, alongside Arsenal. Indeed, Kieran Trippier (11) is the only defender to be directly involved in more Premier League goals than Porro this season (8 – 1 goal, 7 assists).