Nottingham Forest’s bid for promotion could come down to a host of things at the end of the season. But historical evidence would tell them that the teams that score more finish higher.
Last season, five of the six teams that finished inside the play-off places were in the top six of the most goals scored in the season tally. Norwich scored 93 times, West Bromwich Albion scored 87. Aston Villa scored 82 times, while Sheffield United scored as many as 78 times. Leeds United too found the back of the net 73 times (via WhoScored).
All these teams formed the top five of the most goals scored table last season. Forest would look at that and feel the need for scoring more goals this season.
Sabri Lamouchi’s men have scored the sixth-lowest number of goals in the current campaign. That isn’t a number good enough if the club harbours hope to go play their football back in the Premier League.
However, that should also guide glances towards one of their own goalscorers who is impressing elsewhere with his prowess. 23-year-old Tyler Walker, who was loaned out to League One side Lincoln this past summer, has caught the attention of many while impressing for the Imps.
He has scored as many as seven times in 16 appearances for Lincoln, racking up a tally of two assists as well. That isn’t the only thing impressive about the player though, as he has been on a good goalscoring run in his previous spells too.
Last season, Walker was a regular for Mansfield Town in League Two. Indeed, he played as many as 44 times for the club, bagging a huge tally of 22 goals. Walker also had an impressive goalscoring form of three goals in two League Cup games for the side.
Tyler, who is Des Walker’s son, did spend the 2017-18 season at Forest itself. He was given limited game time and played only 895 minutes of first-team football for the Reds. In that period, Walker scored three goals and racked up two assists.
The 2016-17 campaign had seen the striker have two separate loan spells. One had him play at Port Vale in League One, where he did score two goals in just six appearances. The second loan spell of the campaign sent him off to Stevenage in League Two. His tally there wasn’t disappointing at all too, as he scored three times in just eight first-team games.
His goalscoring tally isn’t disappointing at all. He has done well at just about every club he has gone to, with the current spell heading into the best direction possible too.
Lamouchi has one striker in Lewis Grabban doing the majority of damage this season. The former Bournemouth man, now 31, has scored seven times in 14 games. He is the club’s top goalscorer, but second-choice striker Rafa Mir has only one assist to his name.
As the season wears on, games will come thick and fast. That will place a demand on the players to play more games than usual. The forward line is one area that Forest will need to enhance when the going gets tough around December. And looking at their goalscoring record this season, they might struggle.
Bringing Walker back will make perfect sense. He has played in the Championship before and he is high on confidence. He can come in, get 5-7 crucial goals and help take the load off Grabban.