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For the first time since 2014, Nottingham Forest and Leicester City faced off, and it could not have gone any better for the red side from the East Midlands.
This over 100-year-old rivalry has not seen a match for eight years and the clash between the two sides at the City Ground on Sunday afternoon was an enthralling fixture, to say the least.
Leicester came into the game as clear favourites being the Premier League side and the current FA Cup holders, however, once the game got underway, the complexity of the match did not look so favourable for the Foxes.
Steve Cooper’s side flew out of the traps and put their East Midlands counterparts under extreme amounts of pressure.
As the game started the open up, Forest and Leicester both had chances. Firstly, Brennan Johnson fired a free-kick into the wall which saw the Foxes dash up the other end, however, Kelechi Iheanacho failed to direct his effort on target.
James Maddison deployed a sneaky corner tactic as he drilled the ball low into the path of Ademola Lookman on the edge of the area, whose goal-bound effort was blocked by the alert James Garner.
Leicester’s final real chance of the half came in the 14th minute as Harvey Barnes twisted returning skipper Joe Worrall inside out before sending a low cross into the box, however, Lookman, who was sliding in, was unable to reach the ball to direct it in.
From then on, the Forest onslaught began. After a free-kick that caused mayhem inside the Leicester box, the ball was partially cleared by Barnes. Johnson hooked the ball back into the area which saw Keinan Davis chest it down and fire an effort that cannoned off the crossbar and back into play.
The opener did not come long after that as Johnson was once again the provider. The Nottingham Forest academy graduate floated a ball into the box that was headed down by Davis and slotted into the goal by Philip Zinckernagel.
It took less than a minute for the Reds to double their lead after a poor back-pass from Daniel Amartey. Max Lowe looked to break forward but was stopped in his tracks by the Leicester defender.
Amartey then looked to play the ball back to goalkeeper Danny Ward, however, Johnson was lurking and seized upon the opportunity to get on the scoresheet as he embarrassed his international teammate by slotting the ball through his legs to give Forest a 2-0 lead.
It was 3-0 after 31 minutes as captain Worrall was there to score from a corner. Garner’s pinpoint cross found the head of the defender, who headed the ball into the ground and saw it hit the back of the net after a bounce that went over the Leicester players.
Leicester were given a lifeline five minutes before the end of the half as Brice Samba made a comical error. The Forest goalkeeper ran out to meet the ball intended for Iheanacho, however, the forward gained possession and squeezed the ball in.
Going into the half-time break, Brendan Rodgers would have been furious with his side after conceding three goals against their East Midlands rivals, Cooper, on the other hand, must have been delighted with his squad but knew that the game was not over.
The second half was filled with many nearly chances as Leicester looked to get themselves back into the game but were wasteful in front of goal.
Rodgers brought on summer signing Patson Daka to inject some pace and fight into the front line, however, the Zambian forward did not make much of an impact.
Forest sealed the win just after the hour-mark as the impressive Djed Spence got a goal. A brilliant give and go between Zinckernagel and the full-back saw the Middlesbrough loanee slot the hosts’ fourth of the afternoon and seal their place in the Fifth Round of the FA Cup.
Cooper’s men will take on Huddersfield Town at the City Ground in the next round of the competition and will look to make the quarter-final stage for the first time in over 25 years.
The Reds will also look to take care of a promotion push in the Championship as they sit only two points outside the play-offs.
Nottingham Forest will take a lot of heart and confidence from their fantastic performance against Leicester City, with a successful campaign inevitable after such a brilliant display against a Premier League side.
For the Foxes, they now only have to worry about their league and Europa Conference League campaigns. Rodgers’ men need to pick themselves up after such an embarrassment, and if they are to challenge for the top-six this season, something needs to happen as soon as possible.
Leicester have successfully qualified for Europe in the last two seasons, with an FA Cup trophy coming back to the King Power Stadium last campaign. As pressure starts to mount on Brendan Rodgers, the Northern Irishman needs somewhat of a miracle for the Foxes to secure European qualification for the third consecutive season.
Winning the inaugural Europa Conference League may be one way of doing it, however, Foxes supporters will be desperate for another top-six finish and a certain method of qualifying for Europe.
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