Leicester draw away to rivals Derby County in FA Cup Fourth Round

A vindictive win over Everton on Saturday has awarded the Foxes a trip to Midlands rivals Derby County in the FA Cup Fourth Round.

Leicester is getting a tie that injects a bit of life into the competition for the club, who hasn’t made it past the Fourth Round of the competition since losing 1-0 to Blackburn in the Quarterfinals in 2003-04. Monday’s draw is the first time the Foxes have drawn an opponent outside of its division since 2012/13 when they beat League One Burton Albion 2-0 before losing to Huddersfield in a Fourth Round Replay.

It’s Leicester’s first East Midlands derby against the Rams since January 10, 2014 when the Foxes moved seven points clear at the top of the Championship with a 4-1 win at the King Power Stadium.

One of the major players in that match was David Nugent, who netted twice for the Foxes that day. Now he’ll face his former club as a member of the opposition after signing with the Rams from Middlesbrough mere minutes before the draw. It’ll be tough watching Nuge line up for the Rams after the one-time England international scored 54 goals in 159 appearances as a member of Leicester.

Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images

What would’ve been extra sweet, however, is watching former manager Nigel Pearson on the sidelines for Derby had he not been sacked after four months with the Rams sitting 20th in the Championship. Funny, I thought he was doing a pretty bang-on job.