Preview: Nottingham Forest vs. Leicester City - prediction, team news, lineups

Nottingham Forest and Leicester City square off in an all-East Midlands showdown in the FA Cup fourth round on Sunday afternoon.

At a time when Forest are challenging for the Championship playoffs, Leicester find themselves down in 10th position in the Premier League standings.

Match preview

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Having narrowly missed out on the Champions League during the past two seasons, Leicester had been expected to be in and around a similar position this time around.

However, the Foxes have frequently under-performed this campaign, their capitulation against Tottenham Hotspur and being held by Brighton & Hove Albion the story of their season.

Despite their games in hand, Leicester are realistically out of the race for the top four now that they are 11 points adrift of that target, and Brendan Rodgers will be more focused on trying to find solutions in the short term.

As well as winning just three of their last 10 fixtures in all competitions, Leicester have conceded 21 goals, and the recent return of James Justin from a long-term injury is the main positive to take from the opening five weeks of the year.

Rodgers witnessed his side record a 4-1 triumph over Watford in the third round, setting up a tie with rivals Forest who stunned Arsenal at the City Ground.

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While the game was not necessarily easy on the eye, Lewis Grabban's late goal earned Forest a deserved victory, strengthening the feel-good factor under Steve Cooper.

Although Forest succumbed to a 2-1 defeat at Cardiff City last weekend, Cooper will be more than satisfied with seven victories coming from their last 10 games in all competitions.

Goals had been a problem earlier in the campaign but Forest have failed to net in just two matches during that period, helped by the form of Grabban and Keinan Davis.

At a time when Grabban now has 12 Championship strikes for the campaign, Aston Villa loanee Davis has scored in his most recent two appearances.

Team News

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With Grabban likely to be sidelined for at least a month, Davis should be restored to the attack ahead of new arrival Sam Surridge.

While Cooper is expected to name a strong team, he could still make a couple of changes with Tobias Figueiredo and Cafu options in defence and midfield respectively.

Jonathan Panzo may only be named on the substitutes' bench given his lack of game time for Dijon during the first half of the campaign.

Ahead of a busy period, Rodgers will likely try to strike a balance when it comes to naming his Leicester starting lineup.

Boubakary Soumare may come in for Youri Tielemans ahead of an important double-header next week, while Jannik Vestergaard, Marc Albrighton and Ayoze Perez will also be considered for recalls.

Second-choice goalkeeper Danny Ward could get the nod between the sticks ahead of Kasper Schmeichel, but Jamie Vardy remains sidelined with a hamstring injury.

Nottingham Forest possible starting lineup:
Samba; Spence, Figueiredo, McKenna, Lowe; Cafu, Colback; Johnson, Garner, Zinckernagel; Davis

Leicester City possible starting lineup:
Ward; Justin, Amartey, Vestergaard, Thomas; Soumare, Dewsbury-Hall; Albrighton, Maddison, Barnes; Perez

We say: Nottingham Forest 1-2 Leicester City

Both clubs will be eager to claim local bragging rights, leading us to predict a high-octane showdown between two teams who have ambitions to improve during the second half of the campaign. Forest should more than match their higher-league neighbours, but we feel that Leicester could edge this contest by the odd goal in three.

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