Taiwo Awoniyi scored four goals in his first 23 Premier League appearances for Nottingham Forest. His equaliser at West Ham on Sunday, his first goal since returning from his latest injury, means that he has now scored 10 times in 14 games in the competition.
That run was broken up by injury against Brentford at the start of last month - and Forest suffered in his absence. Replacement Chris Wood did score two against Luton but they were pegged back. Forest are without a win in 14 games when Awoniyi does not start.
With him, it is six wins from 14. They only lost to West Ham after he went off. Awoniyi has blossomed. There were two goals at Chelsea, one against Arsenal, another at Manchester United. Only Erling Haaland and Mohamed Salah have outscored him since May.
Forest boss Steve Cooper does "not want to sound like a smart arse" when he suggests that he saw this coming towards the end of last season and it does not come across that way because the clues were there. Something clicked for Awoniyi in the spring.
There were mitigating circumstances for much of that first season in Garibaldi red. Firstly, Awoniyi's fitness was an issue. "That was the biggest thing, to be honest," Cooper tells Sky Sports. Building any rhythm proved challenging and there were other options.
"He was in and out of the team. A couple of injuries. Score a goal, not play well. All that sort of stuff happened." But he was not alone in that. It was the story of Forest's season. "I am happy to say that this time last year I thought it took him a while," reflects Cooper.
"I know he was at Liverpool and had the experience of training in England but he had never really played in England. Like so many of the players, even including the staff and myself, we
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