Forest were the hot favourites to win being the holders of the League Cup and the reigning First Division champions.

[1] Team: 1 Peter Shilton (GK) 2 Colin Barrett 3 Frank Clark 4 John McGovern (c) 5 Larry Lloyd 6 David Needham 7 Martin O'Neill 8 Archie Gemmill 9 Garry Birtles 10 Tony Woodcock 11 John Robertson Substitute: 12 Ian Bowyer Scorers: Half-time:0–1 Competition:Football League Cup (Final) Date:15.00 GMT Saturday 17 March 1979 Venue:Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 96,952 Referee: Peter Reeves Match rules:90 minutes.30 minutes extra-time if necessary.Match replayed if scores still level.One named substitute.

Team: 1 Terry Gennoe (GK) 2 Ivan Golac 3 David Peach 4 Steve Williams 5 Chris Nicholl 6 Malcolm Waldron 7 Alan Ball (c) 8 Phil Boyer 9 Austin Hayes  83' 10 Nick Holmes 11 Terry Curran Substitute: 12 Tony Sealy  83' Scorers: Source for team line-ups:[2] Forest began their defence of the competition with a replayed victory over Oldham Athletic, before a 5–0 win at Oxford United.

That set up a clash with fellow First Division side Everton, and Forest won 3–2 at Goodison Park.

A quarter-final win over Brighton & Hove Albion set up the semi-final with Third Division side Watford.