The Premier League fixtures on Boxing Day 2023 produced a lot of drama, twists and some turns that nobody could have anticipated.
Manchester United’s thrilling 3-2 win over Aston Villa is being widely considered as the most entertaining fixture, but another stunning result happened all the way far in Newcastle.
The St. James Park faithful received the worst post-Christmas gift ever as they saw their Newcastle United side fall to a 3-1 loss to Nottingham Forest in the Premier League.
The Magpies were stunned by Nuno Espirito Santo’s side and haunted by none other than their former player Chris Wood.
The 31-year-old, who had played for around a season at Tyneside before moving to Forest earlier this year, decided to haunt his side for replacing him so easily.
The Magpies drew first blood in the game, with Alexander Isak scoring a first-half penalty to start the game in perfect fashion.
However, soon after that, Wood & co decided to fight back against Newcastle’s shaky and makeshift backline.
They hit them on the transitions really well and the New Zealand forward ended up being at his clinical best at the place he formerly called home.
On repeat 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/ms5nvGo1sm
— Nottingham Forest (@NFFC) December 26, 2023
He equalized the score with a tap-in, before scoring two really well-taken goals in the second half to blow away Newcastle with a sensational hattrick.
What is rather insane is that Wood now has more Premier League hat tricks than iconic players like Eric Cantona or Dennis Bergkamp.
But the community that was probably shocked the most by Wood’s heroics was the Fantasy Premier League managers on Twitter.
Priced at a very affordable 4.9, the New Zealand international is definitely one of the cheapest starting forwards in the game.
However, he is only selected by 1% of the FPL community – meaning only a rare amount of FPL managers were able to benefit from him receiving a whopping 17 points after his hattrick against Newcastle. It appears that some players hit a jackpot with the Forest striker.
After the game, it was revealed that 12 FPL managers had taken the ultimate gamble in triple-captaining Wood – which means they got triple the return and a huge 51 points from the 31-year-old striker himself.
This has absolutely stunned the FPL community, who cannot fathom what those 12 managers thought to take this kind of a risk before the Boxing Day clash.
It is quite possible that the 12 managers who triple-captained him are probably from New Zealand or hardcore Nottingham Forest fans who were confident in their striker’s ability to cause riot against his former side.
Irrespective, Wood has definitely rattled the entire FPL community with his heroics and some even feel that a few inactive managers benefitted from having him in their team since game week 1 and never being able to change their lineups since then.
Some others are ruing their decisions to either bench the Nottingham Forest forward or outright sell him just before his heroics against the Magpies.
Considering that three of Wood’s 7 games in 17 Premier League appearances came at St. James Park and he hasn’t scored in 13 of those matches, one can’t blame anyone for deciding to avoid him before this tough game.
Well, those 12 managers that triple-captained Wood got the perfect gift from Lady Luck herself and those who played him ended up being quite lucky too.
Even if the New Zealand forward never scores multiple goals in a Premier League match this season, his heroics against Newcastle will definitely be remembered by the FPL community.
