OLA Aina was back in the Nottingham Forest starting line-up today and posted a sold performance as they defeated Newcastle United 3-1 at St James’ Park, with Chris Wood bagging a Premier League hat-trick against his former club.
Super Eagles full-back Aina’s last start was in the 5-0 defeat at Fulham on December 6, and he was an unused substitute in the two games that followed and a late replacement in Friday’s 3-2 defeat at Bournemouth.
The Nigeria international was restored to the starting line-up today by new manager Nuno Espirito Santo, who replaced Steve Cooper, and he justified his place with an impressive display.
The undoubted star of the show was Wood though, the striker netting thrice again the stunned hosts as Forest earned their first win in eight games.
Alexander Isak gave Eddie Howe’s side the lead when he stroked home a penalty in the 23rd minute after going down under a challenge from Aina.
Forest recovered admirably from that setback and Wood restored parity in first-half stoppage time before adding two more goals in the second half.
Wood is the fourth player to score an English Premier League hat-trick against a side he has previously played for in the competition after Andy Cole vs Newcastle in 1999, Marcus Bent vs Blackburn in 2007 and Josh King vs Everton in 2021.
The result moves Forest up to 16th in the table and five points clear of the bottom three prior to today’s other fixtures.
