Millwall vs Birmingham City – Preview

Team News

Millwall will be missing top scorer Darius Henderson but forward Dany N’Guessan has recovered from an ankle strain. Jordan Stewart is still out

Boaz Myhill came off at halftime against Ipswich with illness so if he hasn’t recovered Colin Doyle will continue in goal.

Reverse Fixture

Blues won 3-0 in early September thanks to a Chris Wood hat trick. Millwall fans will be happy that they don’t need to worry about him anymore.

Recent Form

Millwall have won one and drawn one of their last six games and now sit just above the relegation zone. They have only scored once during that time and also drew a blank against Dagenham and Redbridge in the FA Cup.

Blues have won three of their last six but they have all been at home. The last away win was in October.

Outlook

In my last preview I spoke about how the FA Cup games at St Andrews can be the most exciting and predicted a 3-2 victory for Blues. They then took part in one of the dullest games in FA Cup history. The game plan worked though as the replay they wanted will be live on ITV so should bring in a few quid. Whoever chose the game for live coverage clearly didn’t watch the first one. So for this match I’m going to be much more cautious in my predictions.

Adding to my caution is the fact that this is an away game and that we were lucky to defeat struggling Ipswich in the midweek game in hand. I say we were lucky because Ipswich should have had a penalty and not because we scored late. A Wolves fan at work (Who suffers from serious envy of the Blues) always tells me that scoring late is “lucky” but it is not, it is the sign of good fighting spirit and desire. It’s not luck that we have scored so many late winners and equalisers this season. With Chris Wood gone to the other BCFC we will need Nikola Zigic to show that he can continue to turn in performances like on Wednesday for the remainder of the season. That’s if we don’t sell him of course.

While Millwall is not as fearsome as it once was (They have made good progress in attracting families) it is still a difficult place to get a result. However they are currently on a bad run particularly when it comes to goalscoring.  This won’t be helped by Darius Henderson being out. Looking at their recent results I’d be disappointed if we conceded more than one so it all depends on whether we can create and put away chances. This is one area we have really struggled with particularly away from home. While they have not been scoring Millwall have at least been strong defensively so I’m not expecting a goalfest. Time to go back to my default prediction for away games.

Millwall 1 Blues 1

 

C’mon you Blue Boys

 

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2 Comments on Millwall vs Birmingham City – Preview

  1. You may have got the prediction wrong ( a wee bit re the score that is) but you are absolutely right about scoring late being the sign of good fighting spirit and desire: I am encouraged by Blues doing it so often lately.

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