Chris Wood took five minutes to open his account for the season as Nottingham Forest took the lead in their 2025/26 Premier League opener against Brentford.
Striker Wood, who contributed 20 goals and three assists in 36 top-flight games last season, struck at the second attempt following a corner in a start to forget for Keith Andrews in the Brentford boss’s first game as a manager.
“Listen to that noise,” former Wolves, Sunderland, West Brom and Bradford forward Don Goodman told Sky Sports. “It’s like they’ve won the FA Cup.”
CHRIS WOOD!
Nottingham Forest are up and running 👏 pic.twitter.com/GJO2si5o1F
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) August 17, 2025
Nottingham Forest vs Brentford: ‘Gulf’ between teams
Forest dominated the early stages but Brentford home goalkeeper Matz Sels was called into action to stop a Yehor Yarmolyuk effort.
“He probably felt that he didn’t have a pass on and would have preferred it cleaner on his right foot,” former Scotland and Aston Villa captain Rachel Corsie told BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra.
“He opted for the outside of the foot finish and forced a good save from Sels.
“The amount of dominance that Forest have had so far is almost like these two teams aren’t in the same division.
“There are a lot of players in this Brentford side who are used to the league and the gulf should not be what we’ve seen.”
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Forest lineup vs Brentford
New £36 million winger Dan Ndoye started for Forest, as did captain Morgan Gibbs-White, who ended transfer speculation by signing a new three-year deal this summer.
Two Brazilians were on the bench in centre-back Jair Cunha and striker Igor Jesus, but new midfielders Omari Hutchinson and James McAtee were not involved, although they were introduced to the crowd before kick-off.
Forest starting XI: Sels; Aina, Milenkovic, Murillo, Williams; Ndoye, Sangare, Anderson, Hudson-Odoi; Gibbs-White, Wood
Forest substitutes: Gunn, Morato, Awoniyi, Igor Jesus, Jota Silva, Yates, Jair, Boly, Abbott
Brentford lineup vs Nottingham Forest
Forward Yoane Wissa, who is being heavily linked with a move to Newcastle this month, was not in Brentford’s matchday squad.
Goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher and right-back Michael Kayode started, as did £16m signing Antoni Milambo, with England international Jordan Henderson on the bench.
Brentford starting XI: Kelleher; Kayode, van den Berg, Collins, Henry; Lewis-Potter, Jensen, Yarmoluik, Carvalho; Milambo; Thiago
Brentford substitutes: Valdimarsson, Hickey, Henderson, Schade, Onyeka, Ajer, Peart-Harris, Roerslev, Arthur
How to watch Nottingham Forest vs Brentford: Live stream, TV channel
Kick-off on Sunday was at 14:00 BST (09:00 ET / 06:00 PT), with live coverage in the UK on Sky Sports Premier League and Ultra.
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