And so the fourth round weekend Towards its conclusion, with this final match. A home tie against Huddersfield in Round Five is the prize these two teams will fight today. Leicester are undoubtedly the defending champions, but their form has not been at all in the league since Christmas with one win, one draw and two losses to their name, while Forrest has won four out of five in all competitions, including his third round. Win over Arsenal.
Forrest would be without the man who scored the only goal in that game, their top scorer Lewis Grabon, who is expected to be out briefly after suffering an ankle injury following last Sunday’s loss in Cardiff. As a result, Deadline-Day signer Sam Surridge could make his debut, potentially joining Jonathan Panzo with another new arrival.
Leicester will be boosted by the return of Wilfried Nadidi and Kelechi Iheanacho, who have both returned from the Africa Cup of Nations, although Numplis Mendy is still in Cameroon preparing to play for Senegal in tonight’s final. Wesley Fofana, Jamie Vardy, Johnny Evans, Timothy Castane and Ricardo Pereira are all injured.
Forest has played Leicester three times in major cup competitions and won only once – and that was in FA Cup Back in 1901, when their opponents were still known as Leicester Fosse and Gate was depressed by the fact that Notts County were playing Liverpool at home that afternoon (they won 2–0). According to Sportsman, the game was “disappointing as a spectacle” and decidedly one-sided: Forest were four within 20 minutes and eventually won 5–1. Anyway, welcome!