Delap is easily Ipswich’s biggest threat in front of goal. The 22-year-old has scored 10 goals across his 26 Premier League appearances this season whilst averaging 1.06 shots on target per 90 - topping the Ipswich squad ranks for both metrics. Delap has had 2+ shots in 4 of his last 5 Premier League matches suggesting that the striker is still being found regularly by his Ipswich team-mates. Delap positions himself superbly to allow Ipswich to get up the pitch by occupying the channels and producing strong bursting runs which can be hard for the opposition to stop without bringing him down. Delap will be on penalty duties for Ipswich and the few chances that Ipswich do get in this game should fall his way, considering that he’s more reliable than any other player in the Ipswich squad to find the target and the back of the net. Forest conceded 3 shots on target to Ipswich in the league meeting between these sides at the City Ground.

Ola Aina has been excellent for Nottingham Forest from right back this season, he’s averaging 0.73 fouls committed per 90 across his 27 Premier League appearances this season but that average does tend to rise when he’s facing a winger that is direct and likes to take on his man. This was the case in Nottingham Forest’s recent 4-3 defeat to Newcastle at St James’ Park in which Aina committed 4 fouls, 2 of which were on Anthony Gordon who caused Aina plenty of problems throughout the game. It’s likely that Aina will be just as regularly tested here up against Jack Clarke who has won 15 fouls across his 22 Premier League appearances this season with just 7 of these games being starts, taking his average to a notable 1.72 fouls won per 90. Clarke should test Aina on a few occasions which can result in a slight increase on Aina’s foul average.

Ipswich committed 16 fouls and were shown 3 yellow cards in the league meeting between these sides at the City Ground. Like many sides this season, Ipswich struggled to stop Forest getting the ball forward quickly which has been the source of their success this season, resulting in multiple lazy challenges. Only 3 Premier League sides have collected more yellow cards than Ipswich this season with the Tractor Boys collecting 66 yellow cards across their 27 Premier League assignments this season (2.44 per game). Ipswich have been shown 2+ cards in 21 of their 27 Premier League games this season (77%). Ipswich are also averaging 12.0 fouls committed per game in the Premier League this season which is another record that is only bettered by 3 sides in the English top-flight. Ipswich saw an increase in both of these averages in the league meeting between these sides which suggests that Forest can frustrate Ipswich and draw a few cards from their opponents.

Forest were quite comfortable in the league meeting between the sides, coming out 1–0 winners thanks to a Chris Wood penalty early into the second half. They dominated the majority of the underlying numbers from the game and frustrated Ipswich as best evidenced by the fact that Ipswich committed 16 fouls in the game, 4 higher than their average across the season as a whole. Nottingham Forest aren’t convincing enough at the moment to back them to win this game outright, they’ve only won 1 of their last 5 games across all competitions but Ipswich also enter this game with the same record, so there is likely to be some tension in the early stages of this tie especially when considering any potential rotation from these sides but once the game settles, Forest should be able to establish control. Ipswich have struggled on the road all season, winning just 2 of their 13 away assignments whilst conceding 27 goals in the process. By contrast, Forest have only lost 2 of their 13 games at the City Ground this season, indicating that they should be able to navigate this tie even if it does require extra time and penalties  - which is what Forest needed in the last round to overcome League One opposition in Exeter.

Morgan Gibbs-White has arguably been Nottingham Forest’s best player this season. Chris Wood has taken the majority of the plaudits for his excellent goal output but Gibbs-White is just as crucial in allowing Forest to quickly transition from defence into attack. Gibbs-White has registered 10 goal contributions across his 23 Premier League appearances this season (5 goals, 5 assists). This record includes 2 goal contributions across his last 5 appearances across all competitions. Ipswich have conceded 27 goals across their 13 away games in the Premier League this season so there should be opportunities for Gibbs-White and his team-mates to unlock the Ipswich backline.

Ryan Yates has started each of Nottingham Forest’s games in the FA Cup this season against Luton and Exeter. He’s expected to come into the starting line-up for this one and has promising foul and card numbers. He’s received 7 yellow cards across his 24 Premier League matches this season which is a record that becomes even more standout when considering that just 15 of these appearances have been from the start. He’s averaging 2.47 fouls committed per 90 across these appearances and has collected the joint-most cards for Nottingham Forest this season alongside Nicolas Dominguez.

The league meeting between these sides produced 15 corners with both sides looking to set pieces as a means to unlock the opposition defence. Forest racked up 8 of these whilst Ipswich pitched in themselves in winning 7 corner kicks. Nottingham Forest’s home games are seeing 10.69 corners per game, they’ve seen 10+ corners in 62% of their games at the City Ground this season. Ipswich are seeing 11.08 corners per game across their 13 away assignments in the Premier League this season; they've seen 10+ corners in 77% of their away games this campaign. The league meeting coupled with both sides seeing corners at a decent rate in their respective home and away fixtures should see the corner count rise again in this 1.

The league meeting between these sides saw both teams shown a card, there were 4 cautions in the game overall with 3 of these being shown to Ipswich and just the 1 for Forest. Ipswich are averaging 2.44 cards per game in the Premier League this season, they’ve been shown a card in 24 of their 27 games in the top-flight (88%). Forest have been shown 56 yellow cards across their 27 Premier League games this season (2.07 per game). The referee for this game is Tony Harrington who is averaging 4.17 yellow cards per game across his 18 appointments this season.