Wood proves his worth for Burnley
Early in the Premier League season, Chris Wood said he felt he ‘‘was suited to this division’’.
He’d just scored his third goal since joining Burnley, against All Whites team-mate Winston Reid and West Ham, helping the team move into seventh spot on the Premier League table.
Six months later, Burnley remain in seventh and in with a chance to play in Europe next season, with Wood their joint top scorer in the league alongside Ashley Barnes on nine.
Wood looks well and truly suited to Premier League football.
Of players with nine or more goals in the Premier League this season, Wood has the ninth best goals per minute return. He’s banged in a goal every 167 minutes of playing time for Burnley, equal with Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino.
There are three standouts in the division this season, with Mohamed Salah of Liverpool scoring 31 goals, one every 86 minutes of action. Sergio Aguero has 21 goals for Manchester City, one every 94 minutes, and Tottenham’s Harry Kane has 26 goals, firing home every 105 minutes.
Despite the obvious class of that trio, there are aspects of Wood’s game that have been better this season.
Kane, for instance, scores every 2.69 times he shoots for goal. Wood is scoring every 2.56 times he shoots. Wood’s conversion rate is good for 14th in the league. Wayne Rooney of Everton and Luka Milivojevic of Crystal Palace are the most ruthless finishers, scoring every 1.7 shots on goal.
Wood has also had a bigger overall impact on Burnley’s attack than Aguero has had for Manchester City.
With a team packed with super stars, Aguero has scored 21.43 per cent of their goals in the league this season. Wood, by comparison, has 25.71 per cent of Burnley’s league goals. Both are tremendous figures considering time out through injury.
And there is one area where Wood edges the Player of the Year, Salah, in the shooting statistics. Where Salah hits the target 61.54 per cent of the time when shooting for goal, Wood is the third most accurate shooter in the league, hitting the target 69.7 per cent of the time.
That’s a key number for a side like Burnley, who lack the creative threat of sides in the top six and need to test the keeper at every opportunity.
Wood’s goals have helped contribute 20 points to Burnley’s league tally this season, out of a total of 53 in 35 games.
In the 22 league games he’s played, Burnley have earned 39 points, for 1.77 per game. Eleven of those games were victories. In the remaining 13, Burnley have just 14 points, or 1.08 per game, with just three wins in that time.
Chris Wood isn’t flashy. He isn’t the most attractive footballer. His passing, at 60 per cent for the season, is average at best. He isn’t very fast for a forward. He is often dispossessed by his marker. You wouldn’t call him a world class by any stretch of the imagination.
But when he gets inside the box with a sniff of goal, Wood has proved he is worthy of Premier League football.
Without doubt, Wood is suited to the league, and his performances look like helping his side into Europe next season.