BOTTOM side Sheffield Wednesday were given a major boost this week when their 12-point deduction for breaking spending rules was reduced to six, moving them from minus one point to five and just three points behind Coventry in 21st.
Without their current deduction, Garry Monk’s Owls would be just five points behind Millwall ahead of the clubs’ meeting at Hillsborough on Saturday.
Wednesday defeated Bournemouth 1-0 on Tuesday before receiving the news of the softening of their punishment.
The Lions haven’t won at Hillsborough since October 2005. Monk knows what kind of game to expect.
“I’ve come up against Gary [Rowett] quite a few times and it’s always a difficult game,” Monk said. “He’s an experienced manager and he sets his teams up very well, very organised, aggressive.
“In terms of a threat, they’ve got set-pieces threats and are difficult to beat because of the organisation. It’ll be an interesting tactical battle.
“It’ll be attritional at times I’m sure, but if we can bring some of that quality that we showed on Tuesday, whatever way we set up, we can take that into this game with confidence and produce a similar type of level for ourselves.”
Millwall are without striker Kenneth Zohore, while on-loan Tottenham forward Troy Parrott is unlikely to be risked.
Billy Mitchell could come back into the fold after playing for 75 minutes in Millwall under-23s’ 1-0 win at Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday.
Professional Development squad assistant manager Paul Robinson was pleased with Mitchell ahead of the 19-year-old’s potential return to the senior side.
“Billy’s a great character, an excellent influence on our group and has worked really hard to get himself back to fitness,” Robinson told Millwall’s website. “That was his second game he has played in [since returning], so that’s good for him, but also for the first-team set-up that he can get himself back up to full match fitness.”
Rowett has lots of options at the back and could stick to the five-man defence that was so organised and resilient in the 0-0 draw at Norwich on Tuesday.
Ryan Leonard is set to return in midfield, while Rowett has to decide whether to recall Tom Bradshaw up front as Matt Smith, Jon Dadi Bodvarsson and Mason Bennett are all vying for a central role if it is a 5-2-3 formation.
Rowett has already spoken about the difficulty of rotation and resting players, but the Lions will have time off after Saturday going into the next international break.
Possible Millwall starting XI: 5-2-3: Bialkowski; Romeo, Huthinson, M Wallace, Cooper, Malone; Leonard, Woods; J Wallace, Smith, Bennett.
Match odds: Sheffield Wednesday 6/5 Draw 12/5 Millwall 6/4
Last meeting: Championship (February 1, 2020): Sheffield Wednesday 0-0 Millwall
Image: Millwall FC