Exactly 365 days on from locking horns in the third round of the 2022-23 FA Cup, Nottingham Forest and Blackpool renew hostilities at the same stage of the 2023-24 edition at the City Ground on Sunday.
While Nuno Espirito Santo's Tricky Trees enter the FA Cup at this stage, their League One foes have already bested Bromley and Forest Green Rovers to set up back-to-back third-round meetings with their hosts.
After overseeing an unjust 3-2 loss to Bournemouth in his inaugural game in charge, Santo has since masterminded exceptional beatings of Newcastle United and Manchester United, the latter of whom succumbed to Nicolas Dominguez and Morgan Gibbs-White strikes either side of a Marcus Rashford response.
Whether Forest's mini-revival is a simple case of the customary new manager bounce remains to be seen, but the Reds' recent upturn in form has allowed them to establish a five-point lead over the relegation zone in the Premier League table, although they are hardly home and hosed in 15th spot.
The bottom-half scrap can wait while a spot in the fourth round of the FA Cup is on the line, though, and Forest have only been beaten in one of their last three third-round matches, although that did come in a 4-1 humbling at the hands of Blackpool last year.
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