It’s one of the big Premier League stories of 2025 and the excitement is growing in the East Midlands as, incredibly, Nottingham Forest try to complete the task of qualifying for the Champions League.
This SBOTOP writer was not alone in tipping Nuno Espirito Santo’s team for a relegation scrap but the former Wolverhampton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur manager has worked wonders at the City Ground and Forest currently sit proudly in third place with just 13 games left to play.
While the likes of Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United struggle to clamber into the top half of the league table Forest are competing with Manchester City and Chelsea for a place in the top four, despite losing away to Fulham last time out. Even after two defeats in three games the Premier League 2025 betting odds still back Forest to finish fifth and that may be enough to earn a Champions League place. Either way, it will be the best campaign at the City Ground since the legendary Brian Clough led Nottingham Forest to the 1980 European Championship, for the second season in succession, after winning the top flight in 1978.
Forest won the Championship play-offs in 2022 to reach the Premier League for the first time this century and have survived two tough campaigns. In 2023, Steve Cooper led them to survival on the last day of the season after they picked up 11 points from their final six games. And, last season, they survived thanks to a 2-1 win over Burnley on May 19th, with the lowest ever points total of a team avoiding relegation from the Premier League, with a paltry 32. This season Nuno’s team will probably more than double that total and the transformation is nothing short of remarkable.
The Chris Wood Factor
The Premier League boasts some of the best strikers in the world and any team with a 20-goal man is sure to prosper. Take a look at the top four goal getters in the race for the 2025 Golden Boot. Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah is leading the group on 23 goals, four ahead of Manchester City’s Erling Haaland and with Forest’s Chris Wood and Newcastle United’s Alexander Isak in third and fourth with 18 and 17 goals. Their teams sit first, fourth, third and seventh in the table so New Zealand star Wood is clearly among the most valuable assets in the league.
An old school striker Wood bullied defenders over five successful campaigns at Burnley, routinely knocking out double figures each season, and that earned him a big money move to Newcastle in 2022. On the arrival on Tyneside of Isak, Wood switched to Nottingham and it has turned out to be a match made in Heaven as the 33 year old has successfully led the line of a vibrant attacking unit. With Anthony Elanga and Morgan Gibbs-White in support and providing ammunition Wood can fire Forest to European glory and, just last month, he signed a new two year deal to keep him at the club: “I’m excited for the future,” he said on putting pen to paper. “The club has a lot of potential to grow and build, and that is what I want to be a part of. Here’s to a few more years together.”
That will be music to the fans’ ears who have taken the Kiwi to their hearts and they will be equally delighted that centre back Murillo has also extended his stay at the City Ground.
Wood scored Forest’s goal in their 2-1 defeat to Fulham on Saturday and a hat-trick in the 7-0 destruction of Brighton and Hove Albion two weeks ago. And if he keeps up his current ratio Forest’s hitman will finish with 27 goals, a figure which would normally win the Golden Boot and that shows just how good Wood is.
The Run-in
Nottingham Forest’s Premier League 2025 results have surely been better than anyone could have imagined and they have put themselves in an incredible position. With 13 games to go they have a four point gap to protect, with Bournemouth and Chelsea looming in fifth and sixth; so, who stands in the way of Nuno’s men?
Well, the next three games are pivotal and, if Forest still have that four point cushion by mid March I’d say they have a good chance. Next weekend Forest have a six-pointer away to Newcastle United and they follow that up with two blockbuster fixtures at home, to Arsenal and Manchester City, before playing strugglers Ipswich Town on the 15th March.
Of the remaining nine games only two are against teams expected to be in the top seven. Forest visit Aston Villa in a Midlands derby on 5th April and then the final fixture of the season is Nottingham Forest vs Chelsea… and that could be winner takes all!
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