No manager ever wants to be without his top scorer yet Nuno Espirito Santo’s team selection here suggested for the first time that the Nottingham Forest boss is feeling the pressure.
Chris Wood’s 18 goals have kept Forest in the hunt for Champions League football next season and Nuno feels his tactical plan needs an orthodox centre-forward. ‘Football is strikers,’ he remarked after Wood and Taiwo Awoniyi were ruled out of last weekend’s 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa due to injury.
But in a competition as physically demanding as the Premier League, it is tough to chuck in a below-par player and hope for the best.