A 4-1 FA Cup humiliation at the hands of Blackpool was far from ideal preparation for an EFL Cup quarter-final against a Wolves team led by Julen Lopetegui, who arrived to England proudly boasting a Europa League winners medal in his suitcase.
However, after ex-Wolves man Willy Bolyopened the scoring against his old employers and Raul Jimenez responded in kind, Dean Henderson was the 12-yard hero, stopping Ruben Neves and Joe Hodge’s efforts to send the Tricky Trees into a final-four meeting with Manchester United.
Steve Cooper’s men have been afforded little time to celebrate their cup exploits as they return to the top-flight basement battle, but a 1-0 win over Southampton courtesy of Taiwo Awoniyi’s winner last Wednesday put a bit more daylight between Forest and the drop zone.
The Tricky Trees enter the weekend’s fixtures occupying 15th place in the tablewith 17 points to their name – two clear of Everton in the relegation section – and recording three wins, a draw and two defeats from six post-World Cup games certainly marks a mini turnaround in fortunes.
Furthermore, Cooper’s steadily-improving side – whose raft of summer signings are belatedly appearing to gel – have now gone unbeaten in seven successive home games across all tournaments, during which time Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur have all failed to prevail.
What could have been an EFL Cup final between Forest and Leicester will now only take place at the City Ground on Saturday, as the Foxes’ bid for silverware ended in dismay against Newcastle, who ran out 2-0 winners in Tuesday’s quarter-final battle at St James’ Park.
Rodgers’s resilient side held out for an hour before Dan Burn finally broke the deadlock, and Joelinton made sure of the result 18 minutes from time to send Leicester – who beat Gillingham 1-0 in the FA Cup three days beforehand – back to the King Power ruing what could have been.
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Before making the journey to Walsall in the fourth round of the FA Cup, Leicester now seek to end a wretched three-game losing run in the Premier League, which leaves the Foxes dancing with the devil in 13th place, only two points clear of the dotted line.
The Foxes’ 2-1 loss to Liverpool on December 30 represents the only time in their last nine Premier League games that both teams have scored – and even then Wout Faes had to do the Reds’ dirty work for them – but travelling fans can take solace in the fact that Rodgers’s side have impressively scored in each of their last 15 top-flight games on the road.
Forest were subjected to a 4-0 drubbing when they made the journey to Leicester back in October, and the Foxes could now complete the double over the Tricky Trees for the first time since 1971-72, where Forest ultimately suffered relegtion.
