MILLWALL face a huge challenge to pick up some much-needed points when they face Leicester City tomorrow evening.
With Ipswich Town playing at Watford tonight, the Foxes may not be league leaders by the time of kick-off.
But few will be surprised if Leicester City occupy top spot in May, a year after their shock relegation from the Premier League.
Enzo Maresca’s side are full of talent who will be comfortable in the top-flight and the Italian continues to do a strong job in what is just his second senior managerial role.
For Millwall to avoid a third straight away defeat, they will need to show more sharpness and threat than they did in Saturday’s lacklustre 1-0 loss at Cardiff City.
The Lions had some decent half chances in south Wales but failed to really test the Bluebirds keeper Runar Runarsson. They were then sloppy at defending the corner that was headed home by defender Dimitrios Goutas, handing them a needless defeat.
It is now three losses in four for a Lions side still finding their footing under Joe Edwards, who has one win from his five games in charge.
And with managerless Stoke City hosting managerless Swansea City, Huddersfield at home against an out-of-form Preston North End side and Queens Park Rangers welcoming Plymouth Argyle to west London, it’s entirely conceivable that Millwall could be in the bottom three by Thursday morning.
Even if that were to transpire, many fans remain patient about the long-term objectives that the Lions are trying to achieve under their new boss with Edwards continuing his plan of gradually changing the playing style while trying to pick up results.
Most supporters would certainly be happy if the end result of this project sees Millwall play similarly to Leicester.
The Foxes can go short or go long, play through the middle or attack the flanks, control possession or break at speed.
In the middle of the park, their first-choice midfielders of Harry Winks, Wilfred Ndidi and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall are all comfortable on the ball and capable of breaking into the box and scoring.
And further up the pitch winger Stephy Mavididi has been a revelation since signing from Montpellier in the summer, using the Championship as a stage to showcase his fantastic dribbling skills and trickery.
With five goals and four assists so far, the 25-year-old winger could give Ryan Leonard even more to think about than Sunderland’s Jack Clarke did 10 days ago.
But the Tigers are missing plenty of attacking talent up front with Jamie Vardy out with a knee injury while winger Kasey McAteer has a hamstring issue. Maresca has also indicated that Kelechi Iheanacho will be absent for a second game with illness.
Even with all of those players missing, Leicester ran out 4-0 winners against Plymouth Argyle on Saturday to pick up their biggest victory of the season. They have now won three of their last four.
As good as the Midlands side are, they are not invincible. The one game of the four they did not win was a 1-1 draw with Sheffield Wednesday, who were arguably the better side at Hillsborough before Jeff Hendrick’s last minute equaliser.
They also lost back-to-back games at the beginning of November against Leeds United and Middlesborough.
While Leicester have major absences, Millwall have George Saville and Jake Cooper returning from suspension and likely to go straight back into the line-up.
Meanwhile with Casper De Norre still out injured, the fight is on between Billy Mitchell and Luton Town loanee Allan Campbell on who can grab the second midfield spot with Leonard looking likely to continue on in defence.
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Stat Station
- Millwall and Leicester have not met in a league game since 2014 when the Foxes won 3-1 at The Den on New Year’s Day. They have since faced off twice in the cup competitions with 10-man Millwall grabbing a famous 1-0 win in the FA Cup fifth round in 2017 before a 2-0 Carabao Cup defeat in 2021. They will also meet in the FA Cup third round next month.
- There has only been one draw in the last 17 games in all competitions between these two sides. We can also expect goals – there hasn’t been a 0-0 in this fixture in the last 20 games going back to March 1994.
- Leicester, who have been top since September 23, have not conceded two goals in a game all season. They last conceded more than one goal in a league match in a 3-0 home defeat to Liverpool in May 2023.
- With Vardy and Iheanacho absent against Plymouth, Patson Daka made his first start of the season. While he has been injured for parts of the campaign, the Zambian forward had only played a minute of league football before Saturday. He signed for a reported £22m from Red Bull Salzburg in 2021.
- With nine yellow cards already this season, defender Jannik Vestergaard is one more booking away from a two game suspension.
- De Norre will be absent from this clash with injury but he has played against Leicester before in a friendly with former club OH Leuven in July 2022. The match ended 3-3.
- Millwall have averaged 47 per cent of possession in Edwards’ five games in charge. This is up from 39.8 per cent in the previous five games managed between caretaker boss Adam Barrett and Gary Rowett.
- With three defeats away and six losses at home for Millwall and two defeats at home compared to one loss away for Leicester, the two sides are in a minority of Championship clubs that have more losses at their own ground than on their travels. The only other side to have this disparity is Blackburn Rovers.
- Despite those defeats, the Foxes have easily the best home defensive record in the division. They have conceded just four goals in their 10 games at the King Power Stadium.
- Having only lost one of their first eight away games, the Lions are now looking to avoid three consecutive defeats on the road for the first time since October 2022.
- Since returning to the Championship in 2017, 21 points from 20 games is Millwall’s second-worst start to a season after the 2018-19 campaign (18 points). Their best start was last season when they had 31 points at this stage, which would put them sixth in this year’s table.
- The Lions have struggled against the Championship’s ‘cities’ this season, losing to Bristol City, Norwich City, Swansea City, Coventry City and now Cardiff City. But they did beat Stoke City and drew with Birmingham City and Hull City.
Injury List
Joe Bryan – groin – last match: vs Blackburn Rovers 24th October – Expected back towards the end of December
Casper De Norre – calf – last match: vs Ipswich 29th November – Expected back mid-January
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Suspension Watch – players with two or more yellows so far (10 yellow cards accumulated in the first 37 games result in a two game suspension).
Jake Cooper – 5 (booked against Middlesbrough, Swansea, Plymouth, Sheffield Wednesday and Sunderland)
George Saville – 5 (booked against Stoke, Watford, Sheffield Wednesday, Coventry and Sunderland)
Danny McNamara – 3 (booked against West Bromwich Albion, Plymouth and Hull)
Brooke Norton-Cuffy – 3 (booked against Birmingham City, Plymouth and Watford)
Murray Wallace – 3 (booked against Plymouth, Southampton and Coventry)
Ryan Longman – 3 (booked against Rotherham United, Swansea and Southampton)
Wes Harding – 2 (booked against Birmingham City and Hull)
Shaun Hutchinson – 2 (booked against Bristol City and Cardiff)
Zian Flemming – 2 (booked against Watford and Ipswich)
Casper De Norre – 2 (booked against Hull and Ipswich)
Ryan Leonard – 2 (booked against Plymouth and Cardiff)