COVENTRY boss Tony Mowbray is expecting Millwall to arrive at the Ricoh Arena on Saturday with their minds set on revenge.
The Sky Blues handed the Lions their biggest defeat of the season when they won 4-0 at The Den in August, the second of four defeats in a row for Millwall at the start of the campaign.
And Mowbray believes it’s natural that the memory will be an added spur at the weekend.
“I read the word ‘revenge’ in the Wigan programme four times in the space of a few pages on Saturday,” Mowbray told Coventry Telegraph.
“They were hurting after being beaten 2-0 by us on the opening day of the season and I am sure Millwall will be feeling the same. It’s human nature, they’ll be wanting to do the same to us and that’s why we have to put a competitive team on the pitch.”
Coventry were fourth in the League One table on January 12, just two points off the automatic promotion places, but have collapsed spectacularly since.
They have won just twice in their last 16 fixtures and none of their last five.
Millwall’s form in 2016 has been excellent. They started the year in ninth place, but after reaching the top six for the first time in the season in January they have stayed there since.
Mowbray knows Saturday’s opposition are a lot better than they were in August, but is hoping his side “rise to the challenge” as they seek to score for the first time in four games.
“We’re expecting a very tough game but we feel we can compete with everyone in the league,” Mowbray said. “They sound pretty hollow words after the run we’ve had and yet, within those games, we should have picked up a lot more results.”
“I think Millwall will be looking at that second game of the season and be looking to show how strong they have got.
“You could look at their team and see what they spend, what their players earn and the cost of the team compared to ours, and yet second game of the season we showed we can punch above our weight. (But) over 46 games it maybe shows.
“The secret is to sustain it. Let’s see what Saturday brings but the nature of Millwall (is) they will be 100 per cent committed in everything they do. They have two big centre-forwards, people who cross the ball and robust, big defenders.
“So we have to rise to the challenge and see if we can find a way to give them problems and hopefully get back to scoring some goals.”