The last meeting between the sides saw a stalemate at Pride Park back in October but this clash looks set to be a sell-out spectacular.
A club spokesman for Nottingham Forest has urged supporters to allow plenty of time for their journeys to The City Ground. He said: "It's a case of supporters using common sense - it will be a busy night and those who leave it late to head down to the ground may miss the kick-off."
Forest have sold their tickets for the game but Derby fans still have around 200 tickets of their allocation remaining.
Paul Hart will be without club captain Des Walker as he continues his recovery from a thigh injury. John Gregory has a longer injury list of Branco Strupar (knee), Ian Evatt (groin), Youl Mawene (knee), Lewis Hunt (ankle) and Kris Weckstrom (knee).
Forest have won three of their last six games whereas Derby have failed to record a victory since 1 February.
Pride is at stake for Derby County who are slowly being sucked towards the relegation zone but Nottingham Forest will be looking for three valuable points to help their play-off push and to bounce back from their slip-up against lowly Brighton at the weekend.
The Glasgow derby on Sunday saw three goals, a missed penalty and a red card...what will the East Midlands derby produce?