Preview | Millwall v Swansea City
Swansea City travel to the Den to take on Millwall in the Championship on Tuesday night (7.45pm).
The Swans are flying high on the back of an historic victory over Cardiff City and their biggest away victory of the 2021-22 campaign, while Millwall are in really good form having picked up six wins in their past 10 games.
Millwall still have an outside chance of a play-off place sitting four points behind Blackburn Rovers, who are currently in sixth, with a game in hand.
Team news
Russell Martin will be assessing the fitness of his team following the 4-0 victory over Cardiff on the weekend.
And there may be a return for Olivier Ntcham who missed the derby fixture through illness.
Ryan Manning will be available for selection following the conclusion of his four-match suspension. The defender got valuable minutes for Ireland during the international break so should be ready if called upon by the Swans boss.
Pre-match views
Russell Martin: "I want us to go on and finish the season as strongly as possible so we can show what we can maybe achieve next season.
"We know we don’t have much time before the next game, and we have a lot of games coming up in a short space of time.
"But we are looking to try and find a level of consistency that has evaded us so far.
"I said a few weeks ago that we are heading in the right direction, the wheels are turning slowly and hopefully the result at the weekend can give them more momentum and a bit more pace.
"But we know what we want to do, how we want to do it, and the guys understand why we want to do it that way.
"They have bought into it and we need to keep developing and growing and see where it takes us."
Gary Rowett: “If we turn up and perform with the same drive and energy as we have done at home this season – where our form has been excellent – we give ourselves a chance of winning games.
“They are different games, Swansea are a good side, they move the ball and beat Cardiff 4-0 away from home. That will give them a bit of confidence. They’re the sort of side if they move it, they are a very difficult side to win the ball back off.
“But we have to find a solution and we have to try and win the game. If we do, we have two big home games and it’s up to us to go and win the game. We will certainly work hard and enjoy the opportunity, it’s an exciting time.
“We’re in as good a position as the club has been in, in the Championship. Let’s see if we can take the next step and win the next game to take us into the one afterwards.”
Remember the last time?
It was a year ago, almost to the day, that Swansea City defeated Millwall in emphatic fashion as goals from Andre Ayew and Jamal Lowe sealed a dominant 3-0 victory on their last visit to The Den.
Steve Cooper’s side had entered the game on the back of a run of four straight defeats without scoring but, once they settled into this contest, that run always looked like coming to an end.
They took the lead right on half-time as Ayew superbly curled home his 15th goal of the season from just inside the area.
And Lowe then netted his 10th goal of the campaign with a sweet finish after running on to a pass from the excellent Wayne Routledge, who showcased all his skill and nous in his first league start of the season.
That ended Lowe's wait for a goal, and another was not long in coming as he rifled the ball into the top corner with five minutes to go. Click here to read the match report from that game.
Prime numbers
31 – Across the 53 meetings between the two sides, at least one team has failed to score on 31 occasions! This held true in the match earlier this season when the sides played out a goalless draw at the Swansea.com Stadium. Remarkably, this was only the fourth 0-0 draw between the teams.
18 – The overall league head-to-head between the two teams is completely even with both sides winning 18 times while they have drawn 11 times. Swansea have faired slightly better in the cups winning a league cup meeting and being victorious in two of the three FA Cup fixtures.
Five – This will be just the 10th time the two sides have met in the Championship with Swansea winning five, drawing two and losing three.