A win over QPR has lifted spirits at The Den but Norwich will provide a whole new challenge.
MILLWALL are looking to build on their morale-boosting win over Queens Park Rangers when they host Norwich City at The Den.
The Boxing Day victory ended their home hoodoo and lifted the Lions six points clear of the bottom three, relieving some of the pressure that had been building on head coach Joe Edwards and his team.
While the win was important, it did not heal all of the issues Millwall are having but a strong showing against a very good Norwich team would suggest 2024 might have more promise than the back half of 2023.
Performances have improved since the dreadful opening 12 minutes at Ipswich Town, when the Lions went 2-0 down, and now the challenge is to build some momentum.
There are far easier opponents to take on than Norwich who had been on a strong run before their 1-0 Boxing Day defeat at West Bromwich Albion.
The loss leaves them 12th but part of a ridiculous scrum of nine teams separated by a measly three points in the chase for a play-off place.
With Southampton and Leeds United now putting pressure on second-place Ipswich Town, it increasingly seems like only two more places will be up for grabs in the top six.
Impressive Norwich first showed off their credentials to challenge in the 3-1 August win over Millwall when they dismantled the Lions at Carrow Road.
But since then it has been up-and-down with speculation over David Wagner’s managerial position rampant during a horrendous Autumn run when they lost five of six games.
Jonathan Rowe, who boasts 11 goals in all competitions, continues to look a threat and scored a brace during the East Anglian derby against Ipswich 13 days ago.
Gabriel Sara has started every league game this season and remains one of the classiest midfielders in the division with his eight assists so far. While up front Adam Idah only has two goals in his last 15 Championship appearances but still seems like a striker whose career could take off at this level.
He’s not the only attacking Irishman likely to take to the field tonight with Aidomo Emakhu a good bet for another start after his lively performance against QPR. He scored his first and so far only Lions goal against Norwich in August when he netted an impressive consolation strike.
Otherwise, it would take a soothsayer to try and accurately predict the rest of Millwall’s team with Edwards not afraid to rotate and tinker frequently.
Tom Bradshaw and Kevin Nisbet have both shown signs in recent weeks that they’re ready to go on a scoring run while Zian Flemming’s near automatic place in the line-up over the last year is under pressure with the Dutchman benched in two of the last four games.
Millwall have a famously poor record at Carrow Road but they have also struggled in general against Norwich in recent years.
Since a 4-0 win at The Den in 2017, they have not beaten the Canaries in any of their last eight games.
Stat Station
In the 10 game stretch covering September’s 0-0 draw with West Brom to the 3-0 defeat to Coventry City in November, strikers Kevin Nisbet and Tom Bradshaw did not grab a single goal between them (albeit both had minor injury issues). But they have now scored five goals in the past seven games combined.
After starting against QPR, Ryan Leonard has already made more appearances this season (19) than he did in the entirety of last season (18).
Since Wes Harding’s third minute goal against Blackburn Rovers in October, Millwall have not scored before the 44th minute in any of their five home games.
The Boxing Day win means Millwall keep up their impressive record playing the day after Christmas. They have not lost on December 26 since a 1-0 defeat to Walsall in League One in 2015.
Matija Sarkic has recorded back-to-back clean sheets for the first time for Millwall after he kept out both Stoke and QPR. The Lions last kept two shutouts in a row in September when Bartosz Bialkowski kept Rotherham and West Brom from scoring. The last time Millwall recorded three clean sheets in a row was at the very beginning of the year when they beat Rotherham 3-0 following a 2-0 Boxing Day win over Watford and a 0-0 draw with Bristol City.
The Lions are also looking for back-to-back wins for the first time since March. Only Rotherham in the Championship are on a longer run without consecutive wins.
Jonathan Rowe is Norwich’s top scorer and the sixth-top scorer in the Championship with 10 goals. He trails Blackburn’s Sammie Szmodics (14), Southampton’s Adam Armstrong (12), Plymouth’s Morgan Whittaker (12), Crysencio Summerville of Leeds (11) and Sunderland’s Jack Clarke (11).
With 11 goals from his 42 games, Rowe has scored in 26% of the Norwich games he’s been involved in.
Millwall have beaten Norwich nine times at The Den since they last won at Carrow Road in 1968.
The last time these two clashed in December was Boxing Day 2014 when Norwich won 6-1. That defeat came two days before Bournemouth won 2-0 at The Den on December 28, the last time the Lions lost their final game of a calendar year.
Borja Sainz will be missing for the visitors. He was sent off in the 1-0 defeat to West Brom on Tuesday, with his second yellow for dissent quickly following his first booking.
Injury List
Casper De Norre – calf – last match: vs Ipswich 29th November – Expected back mid-January
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 – 7 (booked against Middlesbrough, Swansea, Plymouth, Sheffield Wednesday, Sunderland, Leicester and Stoke)
George Saville – 6 (booked against Stoke, Watford, Sheffield Wednesday, Coventry, Sunderland and Leicester)
Murray Wallace – 5 (booked against Plymouth, Southampton, Coventry, Leicester and QPR)
Wes Harding – 4 (booked against Birmingham City, Hull, Leicester and Stoke)
Danny McNamara – 3 (booked against West Bromwich Albion, Plymouth and Hull)
Brooke Norton-Cuffy – 3 (booked against Birmingham City, Plymouth and Watford)
Ryan Longman – 3 (booked against Rotherham United, Swansea and Southampton)
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)
Billy Mitchell – 2 (booked against Norwich and Stoke)
Aidomo Emakhu – 2 (booked against Preston and QPR)
George Honeyman – 2 (booked against Ipswich and QPR)
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