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Nottingham Forest’s Chris Wood says defender Liverpool sold for £5m was one of his toughest opponents ever

Charles Jones

Tue 28 January 2025 11:45, UK

Chris Wood has played against some of the best of the best when it comes to facing off against opposition centre-backs.

After almost 300 appearances in the Premier League, Chris Wood has played against all of the top defenders of this era from William Saliba to John Terry.

Speaking to Optus Sport, Wood was asked to name his most difficult opponent.

Inevitably, Virgil van Dijk got a mention. After all, Van Dijk is a world-class centre-back.

However, Wood also said that Martin Skrtel was one of his toughest ever opponents when he was at Liverpool, claiming that he always used to put him off his game and bug him during matches.

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Chris Wood names Martin Skrtel as one of his toughest opponents

Wood spoke about who his toughest ever opponents have been.

The striker claimed that Van Dijk was the best defender he’s faced recently, but Martin Skrtel was also very difficult to play against in his time.

“Who has been the most difficult defender you’ve ever come up against?” Wood was asked.

“I always say Van Dijk at the moment he’s probably the best defender you’ll come up against, but Skrtel at Liverpool back in the day,” Wood said.

“He was one of the defenders back in the day who just never let you rest, he was always pinching you and prodding you and getting on your nerves. I think he put strikers off a bit in a sense, so yeah, he was one of the tougher ones.”

Chris Wood record vs Martin Skrtel and Virgil van Dijk

Wood says that Skrtel is one of his toughest ever opponents, and that is very interesting to hear.

Indeed, Wood barely played against Skrtel in his career. In fact, these two only faced off against one another twice in their careers for a combined total of just 26 minutes.

Skrtel would leave Liverpool in 2016 for .

Skrtel clearly made quite the impression on Wood in those 26 minutes as he still named him as one of his toughest opponents.

Skrtel’s reputation differs depending on who you speak to. After all, Troy Deeney says he loved facing Skrtel at Liverpool, whereas Wood clearly feared him.

As for Van Dijk, Wood has played against the Dutchman on 10 occasions, and, as you can imagine, he’s not had much luck.

Wood has scored just one goal in 665 minutes against Van Dijk, and that goal came earlier this month at the City Ground.

Of course, Wood isn’t the only player to speak about Van Dijk in these terms.

Sergio Aguero also named Van Dijk as his toughest opponent, while Martin Odegaard said Van Dijk was difficult to face too.

Van Dijk is undoubtedly one of the most fearsome players in the Premier League today.