Wood hat-trick stuns Newcastle

On this day in Nottingham Forest history in 2023 Chris Wood scores a Boxing Day hat-trick as Forest beat Newcastle United 3–1.

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Iconic goal, save, assist, tackle, or individual moment

Hat-trick hero Chris Wood, pictured 2025. Image: Sebalston / CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Chris Wood gave Forest one of their most satisfying Premier League away wins by scoring a Boxing Day hat-trick at Newcastle United, the club he had left for Forest less than a year earlier in a move that had raised plenty of eyebrows.

Newcastle led through Alexander Isak’s penalty, but Forest found a way back before half-time. Morgan Gibbs-White’s angled pass found Anthony Elanga, whose low cross was finished by Wood from close range.

Wood then turned the afternoon completely. For his second goal, Elanga’s curving pass found Wood, who shaped to shoot, wrong-footed Dan Burn and lifted a composed finish over Martin Dubravka. For the hat-trick goal, Murillo’s through-ball and Kieran Trippier’s misjudgment left Wood onside, and he rounded Dubravka before sliding the ball into the empty net.

The 3–1 win gave Nuno Espírito Santo his first victory as Forest head coach, only six days after his appointment. It was already a vital result in a relegation fight, but Wood’s hat-trick against his former club gave it an extra twist: a striker whose move from Newcastle had been doubted ended up returning to St James’ Park and deciding the match almost single-handedly.