Millwall welcome Reading to The Den on Wednesday evening (7pm) in a Sky Bet Championship clash.
The Lions head into this week’s midweek match in an unfavourable run of form, with no wins in their last four games and only one victory in their last six, which was a 2-0 win away at Preston back in October.
Despite the lack of wins though, there are still some positives to take from their recent results. The Lions have gone three games without defeat with only one loss in eight matches, coming in the 3-0 home defeat to Huddersfield Town on Halloween.
The Lions’ league form means they’re currently sat in ninth position in what is an incredibly tight league table. They’re four points behind Wednesday night’s opponents, Reading, who currently occupy the final play-off spot.
Royals Poor Run
Reading travel to SE16 in much worse form than their hosts, having lost all of their last four matches, conceding 13 goals along the way and scoring just four. The recent run comes after a lightning start to the season that shocked the rest of the division, topping the league table until just last week.
In their opening eight league matches, they dropped just two points after a frustrating 0-0 draw away at Middlesbrough.
The Berkshire side chose the relatively unknown Serbian manager Veljko Paunovic to succeed Mark Bowen at the start of the season. The Serb’s only previous experience of managing men’s football was a relatively unsuccessful few years at Chicago Fire in the MLS, though he did lead Serbia to under-20 World Cup glory back in 2015.
Team News
Lions manager Gary Rowett will be without Shane Ferguson, Kenneth Zohore and Mahlon Romeo for Wednesday’s match as they’re all still out injured. Romeo’s absence means that Ryan Leonard will most likely take his place on the right-hand side again, just like he did in Saturday’s 1-1 draw against Cardiff City.
Teenage striker Troy Parrott, on loan from Tottenham, is in contention to start his first league game for the Lions alongside Matt Smith. The young Irish striker has struggled with injuries since he signed on loan for the season in the summer.
The visiting Royals will be without key playmaker John Swift on Wednesday as he continues to recover from injury. Felipe Araruna and Andy Yiadom are also both out. The latter picked up an injury in the defeat against Stoke before the international break.
Young Portuguese loanee Tomas Esteves will fill in at right back. Romanian striker George Puscas is nursing a knock he picked up on international duty and is a doubt.
Manager’s Record
Rowett and Paunovic have never faced off in their managerial careers, but Rowett has managed against Reading on 10 different occasions whilst in charge of Birmingham City, Derby County, Stoke City and most recently Millwall. He’s won five of those 10 matches, losing just two. However, he has only one win in his last six meetings with the Royals.
Last Time They Met
The two sides last met back in January at The Den, where Millwall ran out 2-0 victors. Two goals in the final 20 minutes from Matt Smith and substitute Jon Dadi Bodvarsson were enough to secure a comfortable victory for Rowett’s side.
The result pushed Millwall up to seventh place, just a single point off the play-offs and left Reading in 15th place, securely in mid-table.
A similar result for Rowett’s side on Wednesday could mimic The Lions’ league position from that game as they could climb up to seventh and a point off the play-offs, provided Stoke lose to top of the table Norwich City on Tuesday, and Middlesbrough fail to beat Derby on Wednesday.
