Nottingham Forest 2-0 Luton Town:  Premier League high-flyers ease past managerless Hatters in FA Cup – as sights switch to Liverpool showdown

And so the Nottingham Forest Express rolls on. Seven wins on the bounce for Nuno Espirito Santo’s side and a place in the FA Cup fourth round thanks to a routine 2-0 victory over a Luton courtesy of goals from Ryan Yates and Ramon Sosa.

But it’s the next stop on this incredible journey that’s got everyone dreaming.

By the time Sosa added Forest’s second, the thoughts of the City Ground had turned to Tuesday night and the visit of title rivals Liverpool. Yes, title rivals.

Forest sit third in the Premier League and welcome Mohamed Salah and co. in three days with the chance to cut the gap to three points.

‘You Scouse b******s, we’re coming for you,’ came the chants from the Forest faithful.

There’s something special being conjured here under Nuno, the feeling of a long un-united club united: the manager, the fans and the players.

‘We have to keep on going and improve it,’ said Nuno. ‘The way the fans started singing with us showed that we and the fans and the city are all the same. I believe it is everybody together and we can be stronger like that.

‘It is important to keep the momentum, the spirit and the habit going. It is always nice when we go with a smile and prepare for a tough game. If we are happy, it is easier.’

With Forest in a title race and Liverpool up next, it was no wonder Nuno changed every single player from the side that beat Wolves – but to watch them you would not have known it.

This was no bunch of strangers as they moved the ball quickly with skipper Yates, a local lad who has experienced both the highs and the many lows at Forest, at the heart of it.

He was superb. He rattled the bar from distance and it was only right he gave Forest the lead just before half-time, nodding in Ramon Sosa’s cross after a ghosting run into the box.

‘If Yatesy scores, we’re in the Trent,’ the home fans sang. It will have been a brisk afternoon for those supporters who remained true to their word.

Not all Forest fans were inside the ground to sing it, though, as the club were forced to apologise after the icy conditions meant they had to close some turnstiles that left supporters outside in below-freezing temperatures.

Luton gave a good account of themselves but never looked like winning it. The closest they came was when Liam Walsh brought Forest keeper Carlos Miguel off his deckchair to tip over a dipping strike from 30 yards until the last 10 minutes when Carlton Morris headed straight at him and should have done better.

But by this point the game, really, they knew the game was done. Forest had scored a second goal after Silva broke clear down the right and crossed for Sosa to turn it in at the near post, had brought on their big guns and were pushing heavily for a third.

While Forest hope to keep writing their remarkable chapter, Luton begun life without the man who delivered their own dream-filled adventure.

Rob Edwards, the manager who led them to the Premier League, left his position this week with the team in danger of back-to-back relegations to League One after four defeats on the spin. Make it five now.

‘It was disappointing to get beat,’ said Luton caretaker boss Paul Trollope. ‘We showed a lot of pride after a difficult two or three days. We played with a lot of spirit and energy and I thought a lot of quality at times but it wasn’t to be.’

Nuno and Forest have bigger fish to fry but they won’t begrudge themselves a place in the fourth round of a competition they have not won since 1959, even if they know the biggest test lies in three days’ time.

Liverpool will offer a far greater challenge but, make no mistake, this is a club that keeps showing it’s ready to face it head on.