Millwall vs. West Bromwich Albion: lineups, team news, and predictions
Written by Carter White
Posted at 17:06 on October 3, 2024
Updated at 17:37 on October 3, 2024.
On Saturday afternoon, West Bromwich Albion will strive to bounce back from a rare defeat in the Black Country earlier in the week when Millwall visits The Hawthorns for a Championship match.
Tuesday night, the Baggies lost to Middlesbrough by a close margin, while the Lions lost to Cardiff City, who are currently in the bottom, in South Wales after a lackluster display.
Having begun the 2024–25 Championship season with a run of six games without a loss, West Brom has suffered back-to-back losses to Sheffield Wednesday and Middlesbrough over the past week, which has caused them to fall behind in the race for automatic promotion.
Prior to Tuesday night’s visit from Michael Carrick’s Boro, who were able to escape back up to the North-East with maximum points thanks to a long-range curler from England Under-21 international Hayden Hackney in the second period, the Baggies had not surrendered at the Hawthorns this season.
As the October international break draws near, West Brom has fallen from first to fourth position in the early rankings, one point behind division-leading Sunderland and two behind second-place Burnley. This is due to their inability to earn any points from their last two Championship games
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Albion, despite their recent setback, still boasts some of the Championship’s top players this year in Josh Maja and Tom Fellows, who have combined for 13 goal contributions so far in 2024–25. Both players are expected to cause Millwall’s defense a great deal of problems on Saturday.
Under Carlos Corberan’s direction, West Brom has demonstrated their strength at The Hawthorns. Since the highly regarded Spanish head coach took over in October 2022, the team has won two straight Championship home games, so supporters of the Albion side can be assured of a response this weekend.
The London-based team lost to Cardiff in South Wales on Tuesday night, their worst performance of the 2024–25 season to yet. Prior to that, Millwall had gained momentum with four points from two games against Preston North End and Queens Park Rangers.
At Cardiff City Stadium, the visitors had more possession of the ball and created the most of the clear-cut opportunities, but they were unable to beat Bluebirds goalie Jak Alnwick’s net. Instead, right-back Perry Ng’s header in the first half secured Cardiff’s first league victory of the season.
With just one victory in their previous four Championship games, Millwall finds itself in a precarious 16th position going into their journey to the Black Country on Saturday afternoon. They are seven points behind Blackburn Rovers in sixth place and just one point ahead of QPR in the relegation zone.
In the middle of his side’s varied performances and outcomes, former Sunderland teenager Duncan Watmore has been dependably reliable at the top end of the game, with the winger hitting five goals so far this season after only scoring on four occasions over the rest of the 2023-24 term.
It’s shocking to learn that Millwall hasn’t lost against West Brom since the West Midlands team was demoted from the Premier League in 2021. This weekend, the Lions will have a chance to make it seven straight wins in this series.
West Bromwich Albion possible starting lineup:
Palmer; Furlong, Ajayi, Bartley, Heggem; Mowatt, Molumby; Fellows, Swift, Johnston; Maja
Millwall possible starting lineup:
Jensen; McNamara, Tanganga, Cooper, Bryan; De Norre, Saville; Azeez, Leonard, Watmore; Langstaff
