MILLWALL are looking to keep up their hot league form when they welcome Middlesbrough to The Den.
The Lions go into this game just four points behind Boro after their run of ten points over four games.
A battling FA Cup defeat to Leicester City appears to have done little to dull the mood among fans with Millwall giving the Foxes a run for their money last Saturday.
But it is the league table where the club will ultimately be judged come May and with eight points separating them from the play-offs and ten points between the Lions and the relegation zone, they have their destiny in their own hands.
Middlesbrough will also be keeping an eye on the top six but Michael Carrick’s side have not yet found the rampant consistency that saw them storm to fourth last season.
They are a decent but flawed outfit and their form makes for curious reading. Since a 3-3 draw with Plymouth Argyle in November, they beat the league leaders Leicester, lost 3-2 to Bristol City, hammered Preston North End, then lost three on the bounce, won two in a row before more mixed results over Christmas.
Their frailties have been clear since the very beginning of the season when they struggled to create chances against Millwall and Romain Esse pounced in the second half to score his first senior Millwall goal and hand the Lions three points at the Riverside.
As important as the league is for Boro, they have had bigger fish to fry this week. Saturday’s FA Cup game saw them lose to very good Premier League opposition in Aston Villa before Tuesday’s Carabao Cup semi-final first-leg saw them beat a distinctly average Premier League side in Chelsea.
Cole Palmer missed some huge chances before Hayden Hackney scored after 37 minutes to give disciplined Middlesbrough a 1-0 lead to take back to Stamford Bridge. Joe Bryan will have to keep a close eye on Isaiah Jones, who is from London and used to play for Tooting & Mitcham United, after he gave Levi Colwill the run around on Tuesday night.
But the evening came at considerable cost as Emmanuel Latte Lath and Alex Bangura hobbled off inside the opening 20 minutes, potentially joining an already lengthy injury list that will concern Carrick.
Their absentees dwarfs the seven players who might not be available for Millwall. Five will certainly be absent: George Saville is suspended, Shaun Hutchinson, Ryan Leonard and Aidomo Emakhu are all out injured while Casper De Norre is training again but won’t be ready to make this game after his calf issue. The other two, Brooke Norton-Cuffy and Murray Wallace, may be able to make the matchday squad but will likely not be in a position to start.
Hutchinson, Wallace and Leonard’s absence from the line-up leaves Wes Harding and Jake Cooper as the only senior out-and-out centre-backs meaning Edwards may have to get creative. He could opt to put Danny McNamara among the centre-backs like he did against Leicester in the second half, he could switch formation entirely or perhaps – and this is unlikely – he may gamble and turn to one of the younger members of the squad to fill the hole.
Further up the pitch and Duncan Watmore, who memorably headed to the wrong dugout when these two sides met in August, will be keen to build on arguably his best performance of the season last week against Leicester when he faces his former club tomorrow.
Millwall will be looking to pick up where they left off in the league with Shaun Hutchinson’s New Year’s Day winner at Bristol City handing the Lions a third win in a row and a fourth consecutive clean sheet.
Boro’s last league game saw them lose 3-1 to Coventry City, their third defeat in four home games.
Millwall have not done the double over Middlesbrough since the 2012/13 season. The last time the Teesside club travelled to The Den they were defeated 2-0 after a Zian Flemming brace in October 2022.
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– Stat Station –
- Few travelling fans at the Riverside on August 5 will forget Romain Esse coming off the bench to hit the winner against Middlesbrough in a moment that seemed to signal the launchpad of the teenager’s Lions career. But since that day, Esse has played 341 minutes in all competitions across 27 games – which is the equivalent of fewer than four full matches – and has only started two (the 3-1 defeat to Norwich and 4-0 loss to Reading in the Carabao Cup, both back in August). While he has only missed one matchday squad all season, he has also only featured for seven minutes across the last nine league games.
- Zian Flemming’s two goals against Middlesbrough last season was the first time he scored more than once for Millwall in a single game and the Dutchman would go on to hit a hat-trick at Preston a month later. While he has not scored more than once since the trip to Deepdale, he did grab a goal and an assist against Leicester last week, the fourth time he has registered that feat for the Lions.
- The late strike against Leicester was Flemming’s first goal in 13 matches, his longest run without a goal for Millwall. He now has five goals this season and 20 in total for the Lions. Watmore’s goal was his first in 10 matches since he scored early against Hull City in Gary Rowett’s last game in charge.
- In the 10 goals scored across both Millwall and Leicester games, there were nine different scorers. Only Ricardo Pereira scored in both games, meaning two of his three goals this season have come against Joe Edwards’ side.
- The FA Cup third round loss means Millwall have now been defeated in their last five cup games across either domestic competition. Their last cup win was a 3-1 triumph over Cambridge United in the Carabao Cup in August 2021.
- Millwall are aiming for three home league wins and four league wins in a row, two accomplishments they have not managed since October 2022. They last kept five clean sheets in a row in March 2022.
- The win over Bristol City means Millwall currently have the fourth-best away record in the Championship behind only the top three in the league of Leicester City, Ipswich Town and Southampton. But just two points separates fourth-place Millwall with 16th-place Preston in the away league table.
- Middlesbrough come into this game four points above Millwall having scored 10 more goals than their opponents this season. But they have also conceded eight more. In fact of the 14 teams above Millwall in the table, seven have shipped more goals.
- Away from home is where Boro seem to struggle the most defensively with the 25 goals conceded being the joint-fourth worst away record in the division.
- After 26 games last season, Millwall had 39 points compared to this campaign’s total of 32, meaning they are seven points worse off at the same stage. Middlesbrough also had 39 points after 26 games, leaving them three points worse off this time round.
- Boro midfielder Jonny Howson has played against Millwall more than any other team in his career. Across the 23 games, he has three goals, two assists, nine wins, six draws and eight defeats. Jake Cooper, meanwhile, will play Middlesbrough for a 16th time in his career, making them his joint-most regular opponents alongside Birmingham. Of his 15 matches, he has five wins, five draws and five defeats.
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Injury List
Casper De Norre – calf – last match: vs Ipswich – November 29 – Back in training but not ready to return
Brooke Norton-Cuffy – knee – last match: vs Bristol City – January 1 – Could return to squad
Murray Wallace – groin – last match: vs Bristol City – January 1 – Could return to squad
Shaun Hutchinson – calf – last match: vs Bristol City – January 1 – Out for at least another week
Ryan Leonard – hamstring – last match: vs Leicester City – January 6 – Out for six weeks
Aidomo Emakhu – shoulder – last match: vs Bristol City – January 1 – Out for two more weeks; could return for Preston North End game on January 27
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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). Any player whose line is entirely in bold is suspended for the next game
Jake Cooper – 8 (booked against Middlesbrough, Swansea, Plymouth, Sheffield Wednesday, Sunderland, Leicester, Stoke and Norwich)
George Saville – 6 (booked against Stoke, Watford, Sheffield Wednesday, Coventry, Sunderland and Leicester. Sent off against Norwich)
Murray Wallace – 5 (booked against Plymouth, Southampton, Coventry, Leicester and QPR)
Wes Harding – 4 (booked against Birmingham, Hull, Leicester and Stoke)
Brooke Norton-Cuffy – 4 (booked against Birmingham, Plymouth, Watford and Bristol City)
Ryan Leonard – 4 (booked against Plymouth, Cardiff, Norwich and Bristol City)
Danny McNamara – 3 (booked against West Brom, Plymouth and Hull)
Ryan Longman – 3 (booked against Rotherham, Swansea and Southampton)
George Honeyman – 3 (booked against Ipswich, QPR and Norwich)
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)
Billy Mitchell – 2 (booked against Norwich and Stoke)
Aidomo Emakhu – 2 (booked against Preston and QPR)
Duncan Watmore – 2 (booked against Sunderland and Norwich)