Two sides separated by just two points in the middle of the Championship table will square off at The Den on Saturday, as Millwall welcome Hull City.

The hosts climbed to 14th spot with an impressive away victory in midweek, while the hosts now find themselves ninth after suffering just a second league defeat of the campaign on Tuesday.

Match preview

After narrowly missing out on a playoff place on the final day of last season and setting their focus on another top-six push this time around, Millwall have endured a mixed and somewhat disappointing start to the new Championship campaign under Gary Rowett, as they went into the first international break in September with seven points on the board from the opening five matches.

The Lions were unable to add to that tally on their return last month, suffering a 3-0 beating at the hands of Leeds United at The Den, before bouncing back to winning ways with a 3-0 triumph of their own, beating Rotherham United on home turf courtesy of goals from Ryan Longman, Zian Flemming and Tom Bradshaw.

In their bid to build on that dominant display, the Lions have continued to be hampered by their lack of consistency in recent weeks as they then took a creditable point from a goalless draw away at West Bromwich Albion before suffering another 3-0 defeat at The Den last weekend, as Swansea City made the trip and came out on top with Jamal Lowe, Matt Grimes and Mykola Kukharevych getting on the scoresheet.

They again had the opportunity to bounce back with a quick turnaround with a trip to Plymouth Argyle awaiting on Tuesday, and Rowett's men would again bounce back in style and take three crucial points from a 2-0 victory, with Flemming opening the scoring on the hour mark and George Saville wrapping it up with a second deep into injury time.

Now with some renewed confidence from that away performance and result, Millwall will look to make it consecutive Championship wins for the first time since March on Saturday with the chance to leapfrog their visitors and quickly climb the division at this relatively early stage.

They welcome a Hull City side who enjoyed somewhat of a contrasting first stretch to their Championship campaign under Liam Rosenior's stewardship, despite suffering a narrow defeat to Norwich City on the opening day, as they then went unbeaten in the next eight league outings, winning four and amassing 16 points along the way.

After picking up three victories from a four-match span, including a 1-0 triumph away at leaders Leicester City to end their perfect start, the Tigers headed into the international break in a pleasing position, before returning to action with commendable draws against last season's playoff finalists Coventry City and newly-relegated Leeds United.

Rosenior's men would then extend their fine run with a 3-1 victory away at Stoke City, thanks to goals from Aaron Connolly, Adama Traore and Regan Slater and make it eight games unbeaten in a 1-1 draw at home to Plymouth Argyle, with Slater netting their leveller on the stroke of half time, before most recently facing an unenviable trip to high-flying Ipswich Town on Tuesday.

That eight-match streak would be brought to an abrupt end at Portman Road, with the Tigers suffering a 3-0 beating, as Wes Burns and Conor Chaplin had their hosts 2-0 up before the interval and Marcus Harness added a third around the hour mark.

Such a result saw the Yorkshire outfit drop to ninth spot after 10 Championship games, and still with plenty of encouragement to take from their solid start to the campaign, they will look to quickly return to winning ways in their trip to the capital on Saturday.

Team News

Gary Rowett may opt to deploy an unchanged starting XI from Tuesday's win away at Plymouth, with three key men remaining sidelined in the form of first-choice goalkeeper Matija Sarkic, centre-back and captain Shaun Hutchinson and striker Tom Bradshaw, who led their scoring charts with 16 Championship goals last term.

Given those absences, Bartosz Bialkowski will again line up between the sticks, while Jake Cooper will continue to play at the heart of a back three, likely alongside Wes Harding and Ryan Leonard, although Murray Wallace is also fighting to come in from the outset.

In a 3-4-3 shape, summer signing Kevin Nisbet will lead the line with support from Duncan Watmore and Zian Flemming, while Casper De Noore and Allan Campbell will bid to again partner up in the engine room amidst competition from Billy Mitchell and George Saville.

Hull City will remain without Greg Docherty, Ozan Tufan and Allahyar Sayyadmanesh due to injuries, while youngster Harry Vaughan is also confined to the treatment room.

Jacob Greaves and Alfie Jones will continue to partner up in the middle of a back four, while Lewie Coyle operated as a makeshift left-back in midweek, with Ruben Vinagre set to come back in from the start leaving Coyle and Cyrus Christie to fight for the spot on the right-hand side.

In their preferred 4-2-3-1 shape, Tyler Morton and Jean-Michael Seri should continue to operate in the engine room, while Scott Twine and Dogukan Sinik are both fighting to come into the supporting trio after Jaden Philogene, Adama Traore and Liam Delap were preferred behind lone frontman Aaron Connolly on Tuesday.

Millwall possible starting lineup:
Bialkowski; Leonard, Cooper, Harding; McNamara, Campbell, De Norre, Bryan; Flemming, Nisbet, Watmore

Hull City possible starting lineup:
Allsop; Coyle, Greaves, Jones, Vinagre; Seri, Morton; Sinik, Traore, Philogene; Connolly

We say: Millwall 1-1 Hull City

Hull City will be keen to bounce back from Tuesday's defeat, while Millwall will have renewed positivity from their away win, but Rowett's men have not excelled on home turf this season, and we anticipate a share of the spoils at The Den.


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