One of the most intriguing storylines of the 2024/2025 Premier League season has been Nottingham Forest’s refusal to fall away in the race for Champions League qualification.
Their remarkable consistency has even sparked whispers of a potential title challenge—a notion that gained traction after Forest emphatically dismantled fellow European contenders Brighton 7-0 in early February.
If Forest were once seen as imposters in the top four, they’re now considered one of the best sides in the division who could yet do the impossible in 2025.
Can Forest Defy the Odds?
This optimistic view of where Forest could end up this season is also reflected in the latest football betting odds as the City Ground side are priced at just +175 to secure a top-four finish.
While a title win remains a long shot at +8000 in the latest Premier League winner odds, Nuno Espirito Santo’s side have exceeded expectations up until this point.
Put plainly, with Forest third after matchday 24 and considering Leicester City’s heroics in 2016, never say never.
However this season ends, the reality is that no one predicted that Forest would be able to hold their own among England’s elite.
After all, it has come on the back of two relegation-threatened seasons that have seen Forest consistently flirt with disaster.
It could have been so different for the club had certain individuals not delivered during their hour of need.
One of those men is Nigeria’s Taiwo Awoniyi, whose goals kept Forest from what might have been financial implosion. There is no better example of this than a warm spring evening in Nottingham when the trapdoor to the Championship was creaking under Forest.
Awoniyi Delivers
Steve Cooper’s Forest knew they had to beat Arsenal at a sun-drenched City Ground on the 20th of May 2023 to secure their Premier League status.
The obvious problem with this was that the Gunners were in a title race with Manchester City and needed to win or else Pep Guardiola’s charges would be crowned champions.
In other words, no Arsenal player would be on the metaphorical beach which meant Forest’s chances of immediately dropping back into the Championship were very real.
Step forward Awoniyi whose composed finish in the 19th minute handed Forest a lifeline and sealed a 1-0 victory, guaranteeing Premier League football for the following season.
Taiwo Awoniyi’s goal
secures Nottingham Forest’s #PL status for the 2023/2024 season
✅Arsenal’s dream of winning the Premier League is officially over ❌ pic.twitter.com/nFCISYX1wm
—
SuperSport Football ⚽️ (@SSFootball) May 20, 2023
Looking back, without the Nigerian’s ten goals in the Premier League that season, Forest would have been relegated. The same would have been true if Awoniyi hadn’t followed that up with six priceless goals in the season that followed as Forest hung on precariously.
6 – Taiwo Awoniyi’s run of
scoring in six consecutive Premier League appearances is now the longest of any Nigerian
player, and is surpassed by only two African players in the competition’s history –
Mohamed Salah and Emmanuel Adebayor (seven-game runs). Super. pic.twitter.com/Oz2s3mSkAy— OptaJoe
(@OptaJoe) August 18, 2023
However, having been instrumental in helping Forest survive the inevitable early storms that come with life in the top flight for a newly-promoted team, injury has seen the Nigerian play a bit-part role in these times of abundance with Awoniyi only averaging 11 minutes per game this campaign.
Wood Takes His Chance at Awoniyi’s Expense
Instead, it has been Chris Wood— originally signed as emergency cover until Awoniyi returned from a groin injury in 2023—who has effectively shut the door on the 27-year-old’s chances of getting into the starting XI.
Incredibly, Wood’s goal blitz over the last 24 months has seen him become Forest’s all-time leading Premier League scorer.
Given that the Kiwi had netted only seven goals in his previous three seasons before joining Forest, few anticipated that his arrival would signal what might turn out to be the end for Awoniyi at the City Ground.
Indeed, such a prolific return from Wood, who has scored 32 goals in just 62 appearances for Forest as of late January, has relegated a man who was instrumental in building the foundation for the club’s current success to the bench.
Football and life are about timing. This time, Awoniyi finds himself watching as someone else takes their chance.
