MILLWALL host Birmingham City in another potentially decisive game involving the sides fighting at the bottom of the Championship.
The Lions will be looking to make it back-to-back home wins following their victory against Watford last week but the Blues will know they cannot afford to lose as the trapdoor edges closer.
Every point could be crucial with the season into its closes stages and with so many teams down the bottom in strong form. Sheffield Wednesday could throw the cats among the pigeons if they were to beat Leeds United in the televised game tonight.
But Millwall and Birmingham will know their destiny is still in their own hands and they cannot yet pay too much attention to their rivals.
It has been a busy season for the Midlands club who controversially dismissed John Eustace in October despite the club sitting sixth in the Championship table at the time.
He was replaced by Wayne Rooney but the England legend was then sacked following 83 calamitous days which saw him lose nine of the 15 games he was in charge of.
It looked like things had finally been stabilised by the arrival of experienced boss Tony Mowbray in January but the 60-year-old has since had to step back for medical reasons, leaving assistant manager Mark Venus in charge.
Birmingham’s season has paralleled Millwall’s in that sense with three permanent managers and effectively a caretaker boss all on the touchline during the campaign.
Venus has so far overseen three games and has taken just a point but the opponents were Ipswich Town, Southampton and Hull City, three of the top six.
Therefore, tomorrow’s trip to The Den offers the 56-year-old with his most realistic chance to get points so far and boost Birmingham’s survival efforts. A late equaliser at Hull on Tuesday night would have lifted Venus’ mood.
The Midlands club and Blackburn Rovers are the only sides of that pack of eight teams separated by two points who have not won any of their last three.
Their best chance of goals comes in the form of Fulham loanee Jay Stansfield, who has 10 goals in all competitions so far and scored against Millwall in September.
He and midfielder Ivan Sunjic are both a booking away from suspension while Krystian Bielik will miss out with a stomach injury.
Neil Harris, still unbeaten after three games, will be hoping Michael Obafemi can hit his stride after scoring his first Lions goal on Tuesday night at Blackburn.
And with the Lions boss warning about potentially needing to make changes at the end of a busy week, the likes of Casper De Norre, Brooke Norton-Cuffy and Joe Bryan – all virtually automatic starters under Gary Rowett and Joe Edwards when fit – will be hoping to make their first starts under the new head coach.
Shaun Hutchinson, who picked up his first injury of a difficult campaign in September’s 1-1 draw at Birmingham, has trained all week and will be pushing to be a part of the matchday squad.
– Stat Station –
- Michael Obafemi’s goal against Blackburn Rovers was his first club goal in over a year since he scored against Huddersfield Town for Burnley in a 4-0 win on February 25, 2023. The 23-year-old has been dealing with injury issues over the last year and is still yet to complete 90 minutes for Millwall across his six appearances.
- Sammie Szmodics equalised after Obafemi’s goal, meaning Millwall have now dropped 26 points from winning positions across the season. In the previous campaign, 2022-23, the Lions only dropped nine points throughout the season.
- If Championship games ended after 15 minutes, Millwall would currently be third in the league table, underlining their habit of consistently making quick starts but often failing to see the game out.
- From his six starts for Millwall, Aidomo Emakhu has been subbed off at half-time in two of them – his first start under Joe Edwards (away at Ipswich) and his first start under Neil Harris (away at Blackburn).
- Having started in all of Edwards’ last three games in charge, Romain Esse has yet to come off the bench in any of Harris’ first three.
- Nine players – Matija Sarkic, Ryan Leonard, Japhet Tanganga, Jake Cooper, Danny McNamara, George Honeyman, Billy Mitchell, George Saville and Zian Flemming – have started all three games under Harris.
- The Lions will be looking to keep back-to-back home clean sheets for the first time since December. Goalkeeper Sarkic gave away a penalty before saving it during the 1-1 draw with Birmingham. It would be his last game before he was ruled out for months with injury.
- A victory for Millwall tomorrow would lift them onto 41 points, the same amount of points they were relegated from the Championship with in the 2014-15 season when Harris replaced Ian Holloway late on in the campaign.
- Birmingham have kept just one clean sheet from their last 13 games in all competitions and have not managed a clean sheet away from home since mid-December.
- Millwall have not beaten the Blues in any of their last four meetings but have also only lost one of their last 10 against Birmingham.
Injury List (3)
Kevin Nisbet – hamstring – last match: vs Preston – January 27 – Long-term absence
Shaun Hutchinson – calf – last match: vs Bristol City – January 1 – Could potentially return
Tom Bradshaw – Achilles – last match: vs Southampton – February 24 – Long-term absence – could return in the final weeks of the season
–
Suspension Watch – players with two or more yellows so far (10 yellow cards accumulated in the first 37 games will result in a two game suspension).
Jake Cooper – 8 (booked against Middlesbrough, Swansea, Plymouth, Sheffield Wednesday, Sunderland, Leicester, Stoke and Norwich)
George Saville – 8 (booked against Stoke, Watford, Sheffield Wednesday (x2), Coventry, Sunderland and Leicester, and Ipswich)
George Honeyman – 7 (booked against Ipswich, QPR, Norwich, Middlesbrough, Preston, Sheffield Wednesday and Southampton)
Murray Wallace – 6 (booked against Plymouth, Southampton, Coventry, Leicester, QPR and Hull)
Ryan Leonard – 6 (booked against Plymouth, Cardiff, Norwich, Bristol City, Ipswich and Watford)
Danny McNamara – 5 (booked against West Brom, Plymouth, Hull, Ipswich and Watford)
Zian Flemming – 5 (booked against Watford (x2), Ipswich, QPR and Preston)
Wes Harding – 4 (booked against Birmingham, Hull, Leicester and Stoke)
Brooke Norton-Cuffy – 4 (booked against Birmingham, Plymouth, Watford and Bristol City)
Ryan Longman – 4 (booked against Rotherham, Swansea, Southampton and Middlesbrough)
Joe Bryan – 3 (booked against Middlesbrough (x2) and Hull)
Billy Mitchell – 3 (booked against Norwich, Stoke and QPR)
Casper De Norre – 3 (booked against Hull (x2) and Ipswich)
Japhet Tanganga – 3 (booked against Sheffield Wednesday, Southampton and Blackburn)
Shaun Hutchinson – 2 (booked against Bristol City and Cardiff)
Aidomo Emakhu – 2 (booked against Preston and QPR)
Duncan Watmore – 2 (booked against Sunderland and Norwich)