Football Preview | Millwall v Stoke City

Aiming for a third successive Championship victory, Millwall host Stoke

The Lions edged out QPR with an impressive 2-1 win on Saturday and will be looking to build on that success

Author | James P

Stadium | The Den

Moving into the playoff spots after that win last time out, Neil's men have now lost just once in their last six league matches. 

Handing QPR boss Julien Stephan his first home defeat, Millwall produced a disciplined and energetic performance to cause something of  an upset 

Team news

Steven Benda, Lukas Jensen, Danny McNamara and Josh Coburn were absent from Saturday’s 2-1 victory at Queens Park Rangers and are likely to miss out again, with Massimo Luongo added to the injury list after being stretchered off in West London.

Alfie Doughty and Casper De Norre have returned to the squad and are expected to feature in some capacity.

A look at the opposition

On Saturday, Stoke ended a four-game winless run with a narrow 1-0 victory over Wrexham. The winning goal came courtesy of a deflected cross from Wales international Sorba Thomas. 

The result marked only Stoke’s third home win of the campaign and lifted them into third place in the table. Wrexham, who made too many errors to challenge effectively, suffered their first defeat in five league games and remain 18th, just three points above the relegation zone.

Key stats to think about

Millwall have suffered just one defeat in their past 13 league encounters with Stoke City (W7 D5), that loss coming in a 2-0 reverse in March 2022.

Stoke, meanwhile, have been beaten on each of their last four league trips to The Den and now risk a fifth consecutive defeat there for the first time.

The Lions have claimed victory in seven of their past 10 home league matches, though they have been beaten in three of their last five.

Since a 6-0 thrashing at Leeds in April, Stoke have tightened up defensively, conceding only three goals across their last six away league fixtures.

Millwall boss Alex Neil has enjoyed a strong record against his former club, winning five of his past six league meetings with Stoke, with his only defeat coming while in charge of Preston in September 2020.