The Lions head into the weekend off the back of a 3-0 defeat at home to high-flying Swansea last weekend, which ended a run of three straight victories. Millwall currently sit in 9th position in the table, just three places off the play-offs, but such has been the inconsistency of the mid-table Championship sides this season, the Lions are still 13 points off the final play-off spot with just five matches to play.
Millwall’s opponents on Saturday, Brentford, on the other hand, still have plenty to play for in their remaining fixtures of this jampacked campaign. The Bees sit in 4th place currently, nine points off Watford who occupy the final automatic promotion place, though the London side do have a game in hand. They are seven points clear of 7th place Reading, also with a game in hand, so one would think a play-off spot at the very least is all but guaranteed.
Unbeaten
The West London club are on a run of just one defeat in nine games, and are fresh off the back of a 5-0 away win over Preston last weekend. Despite the unbeaten run, that win last weekend was just their first win in five games, after four consecutive draws against teams all struggling at the wrong end of the table, so there is some definite hope for Millwall.
Brentford are managed my Thomas Frank, a young, highly-rated Danish manager who took over in west London in October 2018. He has enjoyed steady progress as Bees manager since taking over after Dean Smith’s departure, culminating in last season’s play-off final defeat to local rivals Fulham at Wembley. Frank and co will be hoping to go one better this time.
Team News
Shaun Hutchinson and Ryan Leonard remain sidelined through injury so not many changes are expected from Gary Rowett’s Lions, despite their defeat last time out. Ryan Woods could make his way back into the starting XI against a side he spent three and a half years player for earlier in his career.
The hosts experimented with a 3-4-1-2 formation at Preston last weekend that worked very well, so it is expected Frank will stick with the same formation, with Christian Norgaard starting at centre-back. Henrik Dalsgaard has been ruled out for the rest of the season so will be unavailable or selection, as will Rico Henry, Josh Dasilva and Shandon Baptiste.
Rowett’s Record
Rowett and Frank have met just twice before in their managerial careers, with Rowett coming out on top once (1-0 at home last season) and the other ending in a draw.
Lions’ boss Rowett has a promising record in his career against Brentford, winning six out of 10 games he has managed against them and losing just once.
Past Encounters
The two sides last met back in September on Matchday 3 of this season’s Championship. The match ended in a 1-1 draw at The Den. Millwall took the lead inside five minutes against their London rivals through Jed Wallace’s second goal of the season. Ivan Toney pegged one back for the Bees midway through the first half to score his first goal for the club, one which proved to be the first of many. The draw kept the Lions’ unbeaten start intact. Rowett will be hoping to continue to be a thorn in The Bees’ knees and keep his good record against them going.
