Promotion hopefuls Nottingham Forest and Huddersfield Town set aside their Championship responsibilities for FA Cup duty

Championship play-off hopefuls Nottingham Forest and Huddersfield Town will put their respective league campaigns to the side on Monday evening as they meet at the City Ground in the fifth round of the FA Cup, with a home time against Liverpool in the quarter-final awaiting the winners.

Both sides have been a delight to watch in the second tier, with Town spending the vast majority of their campaign amongst the top six whilst Forest have recently snuck into the play-off spots as part of their excellent turnaround in fortunes under Steve Cooper.

The Welshman left Swansea City at the end of last campaign having led the Swans to the Championship play-off final last season and semi-finals the year before.

After a brief lay-off period, the 42-year-old returned to management in late September, taking over from Chris Hughton after Forest picked up just one point from their opening seven league matches.

Ironically, the East Midlands outfit’s first Championship victory this term came against Monday’s visitors, as Lewis Grabban and a Lee Nicholls own goal secured the points at The John Smith’s Stadium. Although, the Terriers did win 1-0 at the City Ground in December.

Under Cooper, Forest have become a force and sit ninth in the second-tier after a dramatic late goal from Ryan Yates secured a draw against fellow play-off hopefuls Sheffield United on Friday night.

Huddersfield were also in action on Friday, hence why the two side’s FA Cup meeting had to be pushed back to this Monday, comfortably beating strugglers Peterborough United 3-0 to climb into the automatic promotion places, although Bournemouth’s superior tally of four games in hand will most likely change this soon.

After finishing 20th in Carlos Corberan’s first season in charge of the Terriers, the Yorkshire outfit have been excellent this campaign and are well in the mix to finish in the top-six and push for a third Premier League campaign in six years.

When it comes to the FA Cup though, despite both sides starting from the third round stage, Forest’s run thus far has certainly been more impressive.

The Reds recorded a major scalp in the third round beating Champions League-chasing Arsenal 1-0 at home before thrashing East Midlands rivals Leicester City 4-1, also at the City Ground.

As for Huddersfield, an impressive 2-1 win at Premier League Burnley set up a home tie against Championship strugglers Barnsley, which the Terriers won 1-0.

Although both sides have a genuine possibility of finishing in the top-six, Monday night should be an exhilarating affair with Premier League giants Liverpool the visitors in the next round.

Moreover, a colossal shock for either side in the quarter-final and they’ll be off to Wembley, potentially not the only trip they could make to the national stadium this season…

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