YOU could probably guess what Millwall fans were thinking when they heard Peterborough are on their longest run without scoring in 20 years: “Hand them the three points now.”
It’s the kind of statistic that brings out the fatalism in supporter.
There is also the fact that the Lions have conceded five goals on each of their last two visits to London Road, a 5-3 defeat and 5-1 defeat in League One in 2015 and 2016.
Posh have blanked in their last five games, against Fulham, Stoke, Blackburn, Barnsley and Nottingham Forest.
Darren Ferguson’s side haven’t won since a 2-1 victory at home to QPR on October 23 and are 22nd in the Championship table, five points off Cardiff as the bottom three are in danger of being cut adrift.
Ferguson sensed déjà vu at Forest.
“It was the same old story,” he said. “We played well for large parts. We had two very good chances at 0-0 and we have to take one.
“I keep saying the same things, but I can’t change what I see. When we were on top we just had to get ahead and we didn’t do that.”
Posh are now on their longest goalless run for nearly 2??0?? years.
The last time they failed to score for five successive games was Aug-Sept 2002 (seven games).
? Credit Posh statistician Mick Robinson for digging this one out.#pufc
— Sam Edwards (@edwardssport) December 5, 2021
Millwall will hope to pile the misery on Peterborough but go into the game without Ryan Leonard and Daniel Ballard who are both out for the next three months.
While Lions manager Gary Rowett has had his options diminished in defence, he has lots of different ways of setting up his attack.
Rowett has paired Tom Bradshaw and Benik Afobe recently and that has paid dividends, the duo getting six goals and two assists between them in six games.
Rowett has played a two- and three-man attack this season in different set-ups. In the 3-1 win against Birmingham last Saturday, Jed Wallace was often in a free role behind Afobe and Bradshaw.
Afobe is excited by the potential of the forwards.
He said: “In this team what I like about our forwards is every single one of us is completely different, bringing different things to the team and the squad.
“As much as it’s nice to play with Jed Wallace and Mason Bennett, it’s also nice to play with Tom Bradshaw, Matt Smith, Sheyi Ojo. I played with Connor Mahoney at Bournemouth.
“Everyone in the team brings different qualities.”
Millwall confirmed this week they had sold out their full allocation in the away end at London Road, 2,356.
After their second-highest home attendance of the season against Blues last weekend, defender Danny McNamara wants the side to build on that win in front of a bumper travelling crowd on Saturday.
“We’ve sold out our allocation which will be a massive boost for us. We’ve got to try and put in another performance like we did on Saturday,” McNamara said.
“We’ve got a good side this season. The depth we’ve got is so important for us to push on. If we can stay near the top six in January hopefully we can kick on and try to secure a play-off spot.
“It’s nice at the moment to have a bit of a break between each game because we know we’ve got a big period coming up in a few weeks.
“Me personally, I like to play Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday. It keeps the momentum going, especially if you’re winning games, you just want them to keep coming around quickly.
“But it is nice to have this little rest now and get ourselves ready for a big period coming up.”
Possible Millwall starting XI: 3-4-1-2: Bialkowski; Hutchinson, Cooper, M Wallace; McNamara, Evans, Mitchell, Malone; J Wallace; Afobe, Bradshaw.
Match odds: Peterborough 7/4 Draw 12/5 Millwall 5/4
Last meeting: League One (August 16, 2016): Peterborough 5-1 Millwall (Maddison 6′, Taylor 7′, Edwards 20′, 52′, Nichols 67′; Morison 79’).
Image: Millwall FC