Nottingham Forest will be looking to cause a shock in the FA Cup on Sunday evening when they host Liverpool in the quarter-finals of the famous competition.
This weekend's contest will be the first time that these two sides have locked horns since April 1999, when they played out a 2-2 draw at the City Ground in the Premier League.
Match preview
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Forest are two-time winners of the FA Cup, last lifting the trophy in 1959, when they beat Luton Town in the final, and the Reds will be looking to pull off a shock result on Sunday to advance to the semi-finals.
Steve Cooper's side have had to beat two Premier League clubs to reach this stage of this season's competition, overcoming Arsenal by one goal at the City Ground on January 9 before thumping Leicester City 4-1 in the next round, ahead of a 2-1 success against Huddersfield Town last time out.
Forest will therefore be full of confidence heading into the contest, particularly as they have won their last three in all competitions, including back-to-back Championship successes over Reading and Queens Park Rangers, which has left them in eighth position in the table, one point behind sixth-placed QPR.
Absent from the Premier League since 1999, it would be some story if Cooper could lead the club back to England's top flight, and they look more than capable of claiming a playoff spot this term.
The Reds have not actually lost a single match since the end of January, winning six and drawing three of their last nine games in all competitions, and they can fully focus on this contest, with their next Championship match not coming until April 2 away to Blackpool.
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Having already won the EFL Cup this season, the quadruple is on for Liverpool, with the Reds closing to within one point of Premier League leaders Manchester City in the table courtesy of their 2-0 success over Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night.
Jurgen Klopp's side have also been handed a favourable draw in the Champions League, being paired with Benfica in the quarter-finals, with the first leg due to take place in Portugal on April 5.
Liverpool have been comfortable in this season's FA Cup, meanwhile, winning all three of their matches at Anfield against Shrewsbury Town, Cardiff City and Norwich City, but they must now travel to the City Ground in a bid to reach the final four of the famous competition.
The Merseyside giants have won the FA Cup on seven previous occasions, the last of which was in 2006, when they beat West Ham United on penalties, and Klopp is chasing his first silverware in this competition.
As mentioned, Liverpool have not faced Forest since a Premier League clash in April 1999, which finished 2-2, while they are unbeaten against the Reds since a 1-0 loss at the City Ground in March 1996, with Steve Stone netting the winner against Roy Evans's side.
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Team News
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Forest could be without Scott McKenna due to the muscular problem that he picked up against QPR, meaning that Ryan Yates might start in a back three for the home side this weekend.
Cafu could therefore come into central midfield alongside James Garner, with Jack Colback featuring on the left due to the absence of Max Lowe.
Lewis Grabban and Steve Cook are also both out through injury, so Keinan Davis is likely to be given the nod in an attacking position, while Philip Zinckernagel should also feature in the final third of the field.
As for Liverpool, Trent Alexander-Arnold has been ruled out of the match with a hamstring problem, while Mohamed Salah is again a doubt due to a foot issue.
Klopp has already confirmed that Alisson Becker will start between the sticks, while Joe Gomez is expected to be given the nod at right-back despite the potential return of James Milner from illness.
There will be changes from the side that started against Arsenal, with Roberto Firmino, Curtis Jones, Naby Keita and Ibrahima Konate potentially all coming into the XI, but Klopp will resist the temptation to make wholesale alterations, so the likes of Joel Matip, Fabinho, Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota could all start once again.
Nottingham Forest possible starting lineup:
Horvath; Worrall, Yates, Figueiredo; Spence, Garner, Cafu, Colback; Johnson, Zinckernagel, Davis
Liverpool possible starting lineup:
Alisson; Gomez, Matip, Konate, Robertson; Keita, Fabinho, Jones; Diaz, Firmino, Jota
We say: Nottingham Forest 1-2 Liverpool
This has all of the makings of a wonderful FA Cup clash, and we are expecting it to be a tight contest on Sunday evening. Forest will firmly believe that they are capable of reaching the semi-finals, but we just have a feeling that Liverpool's extra quality will help them record a narrow success to advance to the final four.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Liverpool win with a probability of 60.87%. A draw had a probability of 22.2% and a win for Nottingham Forest had a probability of 16.98%.
The most likely scoreline for a Liverpool win was 0-1 with a probability of 12.15%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (11.32%) and 1-2 (9.81%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.53%), while for a Nottingham Forest win it was 1-0 (5.65%). The actual scoreline of 0-1 was predicted with a 12.2% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 0-1 win for Liverpool in this match and our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted the win for Liverpool.
