Nottinghamshire

The latest news and views on Forest in two minutes, every weekday afternoon.

Listen below or on BBC Sounds here - and don't forget to subscribe to get each episode into your My Sounds feed.

Image source, PA Media

Nottingham Forest midfielder Elliot Anderson has been speaking to the media before England's friendly against Japan on Tuesday, the final home match before the World Cup and therefore a last chance for players to impress manager Thomas Tuchel.

"It's always a big game when you play for England and I'm really looking forward to it," said Anderson at a news conference on Monday. "It's the last game before the World Cup and I've just got to try to do what I've been doing in the previous games."

Many expect Anderson to be part of England's starting midfield when Tuchel's side begin their World Cup campaign against Croatia on 17 June.

Asked if he felt confident he would be in the team at the start of the tournament, the 23-year-old said: "I want it that way, but I've got the rest of the season left with Forest and I've got plenty of games and time until then.

"I've got to keep my standards high and make sure it happens."

At club level, Anderson's Forest team are striving to avoid relegation from the Premier League.

"Ultimately, all of the games are the same," said Anderson, when asked about the contrast between being involved in the battle for survival and representing his country.

"I'm just going onto the pitch, trying to give my best and fighting for whatever strip I've got on. That's all I'm doing."

Image source, Getty Images

We asked for your views on Nottingham Forest's Chris Wood edging closer to a return to first-team action after more than five months out injured, and how much of an impact the striker could have in the closing weeks of the season.

Here are some of your comments:

Joshy: I hope he can hit the ground running. But I'm not going to hold my breath - he's been out for a long while so it might take some time for him to get up to speed and scoring again.

Simon: We've needed a decent forward all season. If we scored goals per chances created, we'd be nicely positioned in mid-table or so. Igor Jesus is OK but not prolific in the Premier League and Lorenzo Lucca... well, I'll say no more. Give Woody a chance and he's more than likely to put it away or at least hit the target.

Shaun: Sadly, Wood will need at least four games to get up to speedand it could be too late by then. I hope I'm wrong but he has been a valuable player to the team and the club.

Chris: How can we not miss our top goalscorer? Hopefully he will return for the last few games. If so, we are definitely staying up!

David: Hope they don't force him into a full Porto game and we ruin our chances when we have Aston Villa at home. Give him the last 30 minutes of Porto to stretch his legs and rest him ready for Villa.

Michael: He's been a huge miss this season. It's obvious in terms of goal contributions, but also in other ways, such as leadership and knowledge of the game. Given all the drama at the club, a wise and respected head in the dressing room could really have helped.

Sean: It's been an obvious theme this season, making so many chances but failing to score. How many of those chances would Wood have scored? We'd probably have been in a better position in the league if he'd been fit, but we can't really focus on the what ifs. Jesus has done his best to lead the line, with a great return in Europe and a not-so-great return in the Premier League, despite a really strong, consistent work-rate. It's been good to see Taiwo Awoniyi get a few goals this season after what he's been through with injury recoveries. It's baffling that since Wood last played for us, we've been through a couple of managers, but now he's coming back he could have a huge impact on our survival battle. Fingers crossed.

Chris Wood is nearing a return to first-team action.

The Nottingham Forest striker, who has not played since injuring his knee against Chelsea in October, featured in the first half of a match for the club's under-21 side last Friday and scored the opener in a 3-0 win.

If and when he returns, it will give boss Vitor Pereira another attacking option in both the Premier League survival battle and the latter stages of the Europa League.

Asked last week whether Wood could return for Forest's first Premier League match back against Aston Villa, Pereira said: "I don't know, I don't have the information about it. But he is another leader, a fantastic player and character, and we need him for the last games."

Wood was a leading light in Forest's exceptional 2024-25 season, scoring 20 league goals under Nuno Espirito Santo.

While this was a spectacular career-high return, he scored a key equaliser against Manchester City in the second half of the 2022-23 season during an injury-hit initial loan from Newcastle and was Forest's top scorer with 14 league goals in the 2023-24 season after making the move permanent.

A dramatic and chaotic drop-off by Forest this campaign has coincided with Wood's lengthy absence, elongated by requiring surgery in December.

While not being overly impressive, Forest scored 58 goals last season - averaging 1.42 per game, with Wood providing 34.8% of them. This season they have scored 31 times in 31 games so far - a one goal per game average - with Wood scoring just twice on the opening day.

Since his arrival at the City Ground in January 2023, Forest have played 67 games in which Wood has started, winning 25 times, and 59 games in which he has not, winning 15 times.

Forest's win percentage with him starting is 37.3% with a points-per-game rate of 1.4, while it is 25.4% without him with a points-per-game of 1.0.

His impact on their attacking output is shown in their goals per game dropping from 1.4 in games Wood starts to 1.1 in games he does not.

Forest fans - how much have you missed Wood this season? And what impact could he have on the rest of the campaign when he returns from injury?

Let us know here