Wood double beats Leicester, lifts Forest into Premier League top five

LEICESTER, England (AP) — When Chris Wood scores Nottingham Forest don’t lose.

The big New Zealander proved it again on Friday as he scored twice in a 3-1 win over Midlands rival Leicester in the English Premier League.

Wood’s second-half double was his sixth and seventh goals in nine games. On each occasion, Forest has won or drawn.

“It’s all down to the team," a modest Wood said. "They supply me with a lot of chances. I’m not one who’s going to beat four players and stick one in the top corner. I rely on the service of my teammates and they just keep delivering for me.”

Friday's win came just five days after Wood scored for Forest to beat Crystal Palace 1-0, and sent Nuno Espirito Santos’ buoyant team from eighth place to fifth.

Leicester was 14th.

Ryan Yates put Forest ahead with a lovely strike after 16 minutes. The Leicester defense failed to clear its lines and the scuffed clearance fell to the feet of Yates, who drove a low shot into the bottom corner from 25 meters out.

Leicester talisman Jamie Vardy equalized seven minutes later when he stole in between defenders to touch in a Harry Winks cross.

A superb save from Mads Hermansen stopped Nicolás Dominguez from giving Forest the lead again two minutes later but the visitor was not to be denied as it took control of the game after the interval.

With 47 minutes gone, Wood had his back to goal and six defenders within a meter or two but they never got near as he turned and struck an unstoppable shot into the corner of the net.

His third came on the hour mark when defender Wout Faes’ weak header fell perfectly for him to nod over stranded keeper Hermansen.

Leicester boss Steve Cooper is still admired at Forest, the club he coached back into the Premier league after a 23-year absence in 2022. But he was scathing of his side's errors on Friday.

“It’s self-inflicted," he said. "We all have to take responsibility for how the game panned out.

"We made some poor mistakes for the goals. Conceding so early on in the second half was not a good thing but there was still a lot of time for the game to settle again. The third goal was just a real killer. We just lost any sort of rhythm that we had in the first half. It’s on us, and a setback after winning a few games coming into this.”

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