Chris Wood turns 33 in December, so he could have been forgiven for taking the last international break off. A quick call to the coach would surely have done, with an explanation of the current workload. New Zealand were playing Tahiti and Malaysia after all, a gimme qualifier followed by a friendly.

Wood went to New Zealand, scored in both matches, flew the 12,000 miles both ways and dealt with the jetlag. That is the sort of the season he's having, where everything he touches turns to gold and goals.

And why wouldn't you want to play every game that comes your way when you're in the form of your life at 32? We have played nearly a quarter of this Premier League season. Erling Haaland is the only player with as many goals as Wood and Nottingham Forest temporarily went fifth in the Premier League on Friday evening. None of this is normal.

The statistics are ludicrous. As of full-time on Friday, Wood was the Premier League striker who had got the highest percentage of his shots on target this season. Of every regular starter in the Premier League, he also ranks highest for his conversion of shots to goals.

Wood has taken 18 shots in nine matches, ranking only 18th by that measure despite playing at least one game more than anyone else. He has scored with seven of those 18 shots.

The two goals that beat Leicester City were the epitome of Wood's confidence and belligerence. The first was low-key sublime, the type of finish that casual observers may undervalue for its difficulty.

In one movement, without ever looking at the goal, Wood touches the ball, turns and guides a curling shot around a central defender. Mads Hermansen would have saved it had the shot only been curled; Wood somehow got power too.

One other trick that Wood has is to take his shots half a second earlier than goalkeepers are anticipating and thus catching them before their feet are perfectly set to dive full-length and make a save (as they need to do when he finds the corner).

The flicked header against Crystal Palace last season, the shot against the same team last week, the long-distance shot against Fulham last season and the first goal against Leicester; all fit the pattern.

Want to know the silliest thing? Wood might just do his best work without the ball. Those who see him as simply a target-man striker are underestimating his range.

Wood's work rate in pressing and closing down passing lanes is astonishing, exemplified by him covering more ground than any other Forest player this season. He has become a nuisance out of possession and a killer in the penalty area.

Many Nottingham Forest supporters - and it would be remiss of me not to admit that I was certainly one of them - feared these elements of Wood's game had been lost forever.

The deal to take him to Forest - a loan with obligation to buy for PS15m - appeared nonsensically steep for a striker of his age. Forest were giving into desperation and were derided by outsiders for doing so.

Well, perhaps. Wood certainly struggled initially for both form and fitness at the City Ground. He was probably fortunate that Taiwo Awoniyi also suffered injury issues and thus kept his place. This summer, Forest certainly targeted both Eddie Nketiah and Feyenoord striker Santiago Gimenez and both would have expected to start under a manager who prefers a single centre-forward.

But circumstance creates bright shards of opportunity and careers can become defined by your exploitation of that circumstance. That is what makes this form so joyous. Wood has made the best of everything to keep on keeping on. Watch the reaction of his teammates after every goal: unbridled happiness at their mate in the form of his life. Who knows how far this can go?