Preview | Millwall v Swansea City

Swansea City will look to return to winning ways and bounce back from recent disappointments when they face Millwall at The Den this afternoon (12.30pm).

Steve Cooper’s side remain firmly among the promotion hopefuls, but are looking to break a sequence of four straight defeats, with the last two of those coming via the heartbreak of last-gasp winners for Birmingham and Preston.

Those results left the Swans fourth in the table heading into this weekend’s round of fixtures, 10 points off the top two and four clear of seventh place with seven games remaining in this gruelling campaign.

They will face a tough test against a Millwall side who retain hopes of forcing their way into the play-off reckoning, having lost just three of their last 16 league games.

The Swans have taken four points from their two visits to The Den since returning to the Championship, and another positive result in south-east London would be more than welcome.

Team news

Swansea City have no new injury concerns ahead of the trip to face the Lions.

Conor Hourihane returned from a hamstring injury against Preston, while long-term absentees Liam Cullen, Steven Benda and Tivonge Rushesha remain sidelined.

Pre-match views

Steve Cooper: “There’s never a good time to not pick up any points and score goals.

“As I've said before, success isn’t easy. It’s an up and down road to reach objectives.

“We talk about it openly with the group. You either fight and work even harder, or you accept it and you give in. It certainly won’t be the latter.

“We recognise you’ve got to do things a bit better. I’ve loved the attitude of the players this week."

Gary Rowett: “We have kept the season alive with 40 games played, without having any of the top goalscorers.

“We have some tough games coming up – every one is make-or-break, including Swansea this weekend.

“We know promotion is unrealistic at the moment. But we are in a nice position and the lads are embracing it.”

Remember the last time?

Rhian Brewster’s free-kick helped Swansea City pick up a hard-earned point on their last visit to Millwall in June 2020.

The on-loan Liverpool striker’s stunning 66th minute set-piece was too good for Lions keeper Bartosz Bialkowski, hitting the bar and finding the net via a touch off the diving Croatian.

That strike – which was credited as an own goal by Biakowski - levelled matters after Mason Bennett had given the hosts the lead from a sharp first-half counter.

It was a predictably tough contest at The Den, and Swansea lost Ben Wilmot for the remainder of the campaign after he suffered a knee injury late on.

Prime numbers