July 4 might be Back-In-The-Pub day... but it's also the date of the most eagerly-anticipated East Midlands clash in YEARS, as Forest travel to Derby's Pride Park with both teams eyeing Premier League riches

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The finer details of the Championship fixture list were probably lost on Prime Minister Boris Johnson when he selected July 4 as the date to invite the nation back to the pub.

But the significance did not escape the citizens of Derby and Nottingham, where the tactical plans of Sabri Lamouchi and Phillip Cocu may be eclipsed by the operation of those publicans planning to reopen premises in time for a rush.

Derby Day at Epsom is Derby Day at Pride Park and this one behind closed doors could be the most important in years for these East Midlands rivals.

Derby County and Nottingham Forest are set to contest their most important clash in years 

Both teams will arrive at Pride Park on Saturday with hopes of promotion via the play-offs

The derby lands on the same day the nation's pubs open their doors again after many months 

Lamouchi’s Nottingham Forest, strong and comfortably settled in the play-off places, will travel 15 miles west along the A52, the Brian Clough Way, to take on the Championship’s form team.

Cocu’s Derby County have won five in a row, stretching back to the before the lockdown in February. They have taken maximum points from three games since last month’s restart and are moving with menace.

Victory at Preston on Wednesday took them to within a point of the play-off places, and the game’s only goal was scored by Wayne Rooney, who has steadily become a huge influence since his mid-season move back to English football from DC United in the USA.

Rooney has six goals in 18 games for Derby and Cocu, who initially envisaged England’s record goal scorer in an advanced role, has developed a system with the 34-year-old deep in midfield, exuding quality and authority while surrounded by the pace and energy of younger players.

Sabri Lamouchi's Forest side are strong and comfortably placed in the play-off spots 

Derby are now the form team in the division thanks to the rising influence of Wayne Rooney

It appears to be coming together for a late tilt at promotion which seemed to be beyond the Rams for so much of this turbulent season, dominated by the car accident where long-serving captain Richard Keogh was seriously injured - and later sacked - and teammates Tom Lawrence and Mason Bennett were convicted of drink-driving.

The Rams have left themselves with very little room for error, however, and face a daunting run-in with games to follow against promotion chasers West Brom, Brentford, Cardiff and Leeds, and the final game of the campaign at Birmingham.

First, though, the East Midlands derby, a fixture rich in history and furiously contested since the 70s, glorious eras for both clubs and a time when they were bound tightly together by the legendary figures of Brian Clough, Peter Taylor and Dave Mackay.

English football revolved around this region for a time when Clough led Derby to the title in 1972 and Mackay repeated the feat three years later. Then Clough transformed Forest into European champions and Taylor left him to take over at the Baseball Ground and they fell out irrevocably.

Football revolved around this region after Brian Clough (R) led both clubs to glory in the 1970s 

The passion of the rivalry has burned on through other managers to cross the divide such as Billy Davies and Steve McClaren, and Clough’s son Nigel, who played with distinction for Forest and managed Derby.

Those heady days of the 70s, however, are distant memories.

Forest have been operating outside the top flight for 21 years. Derby have spent only one of the last 18 seasons in the top flight. They were relegated in 2008 after an infamously dismal season and not returned despite the millions invested by owner Mel Morris.

They have been beaten in the play-offs in four of the last six years. Last season, at Wembley, they lost out to Aston Villa.

It has been a long 21 years since Nottingham Forest last appeared in the English top flight

Automatic promotion has come too late for Philip Cocu's side and play offs will have to suffice

Cocu’s team have certainly left it too late to consider the top-two and automatic promotion. It will be the lottery of the play-offs at best again for Derby but, after scoring twice in the win against Huddersfield on Sunday, Forest striker Lewis Grabban said he had not given up on the idea of catching one of the top two, Leeds or West Brom.

Lamouchi’s side are fourth, seven points ahead of Derby and seven points behind second-placed West Brom with six games to play.

They have rectified the indifferent form going into the lockdown and have returned with seven points from three games and Grabban back among the goals.

Even without a crowd it could be fiery. And it might not be the last time these rivals meet before this peculiar season is over.