The Rams and the Reds are due to lock horns in the Championship in November and in April.
Following the announcement regarding the kickoff times for the two East Midlands derby fixtures in next season’s Championship, a number of Derby County and Nottingham Forest fans have taken to Twitter to give their thoughts – and most are saying virtually the same thing.
Both sides confirmed the news by putting out statements on their respective websites, with both the City Ground fixture on Saturday 9 November and the Pride Park return on Saturday 4 April brought forward by two hours, from 3pm to 1pm, due to police advice.
However, all 2019-20 Championship fixtures remain subject to change depending on whether they are chosen for television coverage, and given just how big and anticipated a fixture it is, it would not be surprising to see one or both derbies rescheduled once again.
Indeed, the 2018-19 league fixtures between the two rivals both took place on a Monday night, the Pride Park encounter on 17 December finishing as a goalless draw and the City Ground clash on 25 February settled by Yohan Benalouane’s second-minute goal for a 1-0 Reds win.
Needless to say, quite a few fans are predicting something similar this time round as well, and the general reaction on social media wasn’t best pleased:
Forest finished ninth in the Championship table last season, while Derby made it to the playoffs courtesy of their sixth-placed finish before overcoming Leeds United in the semi-finals, but fell short at the final hurdle against Aston Villa at Wembley.
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