Cardiff City fans will be forgiven for dreading 'derby day' in recent years.
Whether it be their south Wales rivals Swansea City, or indeed Saturday's opponents Bristol City, Cardiff have lost all of their last six derby matches and, due to Coronavirus restrictions, haven't been present to see their team beat either of their rivals since February 2018.
It's a remarkable record that has caused no shortage of pain in the capital, and their rivals haven't exactly kept quiet about it.
Saturday is a great opportunity to put things right.
Indeed, the magnitude of derby matches, and their importance to the fans, has potentially been lost on a few Cardiff bosses in recent years. Steve Morison in particular made the fatal error of trying to play down the significance of these games, instead urging supporters to look at the season as a whole.
It's difficult, because he was factually correct. There's more to a season than a derby match or two. But sometimes an inability to read the room can get you on the wrong side of supporters.
For Sabri Lamouchi, who's taken the admittedly rather cliched approach of treating every game as a 'cup final', every game is clearly seen as significant. But even he would have to acknowledge that there's always something a little extra to these derbies. Indeed, when you're scrapping at the wrong end of the table, these games can galvanise a team's season in a way that wouldn't otherwise be possible.
With Cardiff still not secure from the drop, Saturday has to be seen as the ideal opportunity to not only end their wretched derby run, but to also provide a platform on which they build some momentum, and perhaps even leave fans looking up rather than down heading into the final weeks of the season.
Win, and the mood rockets in the camp. Lose, and heads drop, sometimes for good.
Judging by his comments this week, Lamouchi is not interested in playing down these fixtures.
When quizzed on whether he'd picked the brains of Severnside derby winner Sol Bamba, he snapped: "Do you think I need to have some sort of conversation with my assistant to know how the derby is important for me? For the players? For the fans? For the club?
"No. The only thing I know is that Sol will not play on Saturday. He'll stay on the bench and try to help the players try to find the way to score. The way to approach the game in the best way.
"For that, he adds some experience. But every game is a different story.
"But the derby is the derby."
Reading between the lines, the message seems simple. Forget the past. None of it matters. None of it is even particularly relevant. The essence of a derby is a one-off occasion that can even make a mockery of the previous week's action, never mind the lessons of a few weeks ago.
Perhaps he was just annoyed at the assertion he might need some guidance on the magnitude of Saturday's clash. After all, Lamouchi is more well-versed in these sorts of games than many give him credit for.
Just ask Nottingham Forest fans, who watched their side earn two wins and a draw in the three East Midlands derbies he oversaw. As a player too, Lamouchi got the better of Paris St Germain while playing for Marseille in French football's Le Classique on several occasions. Okay, it's not quite a derby, but it's a rivalry that goes well beyond many games on these shores in terms of ferocity and intensity.
Whatever the reasons, it feels refreshing to see a Cardiff boss so animated and passionate about a derby fixture.
But all of it will count for nothing if he can't back it up with a result.
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