Match Preview: Millwall v Sunderland - all you need to know ahead of kick-off!
Yesterday at 01:00 AM
That's enough of the international fluff for this year, and we can get back to the serious stuff as the Lads travel to the capital to take on Millwall - here's all you need to know ahead of kick-off!
Saturday 23rd November 2024
(8th) Millwall v Sunderland (1st)
Championship
The Den
Kick-Off: 15:00
Tickets & Match Coverage
Tickets: Tickets are available via www.safc.com.
TV/Stream: Full live match coverage is available via www.safc.com.
Radio: Full live match commentary available via BBC Radio Newcastle (not online)
Don't forget to follow the blow-by-blow account of the game on the Roker Report Twitter feed (@RokerReport) and check out the player ratings after the full-time whistle at www.RokerReport.com!
The build-up...
Another international break come and gone and the inevitable question of whether or not this was a useful break will soon be answered. The Lads return to action at Millwall, taking on one of only three sides to be unbeaten in the last six - the other two being ourselves and WBA.
But the manager has one or two tough decisions to make in terms of team selection, with the likes of Trai Hume, Alan Browne and Jobe Bellingham not available. Will this mean a change of personnel or system, or maybe both? I'll refer you to Martin's guess at the team selection available on the website today.
It seems like we've been playing on the road a lot lately, with only four games at home in around eight weeks, so it's a good job we currently boast the 3rd best away record in the division with one defeat in the last five.
As we'll come onto in moment, Millwall don't score many goals and we have the 3rd best defensive record, so there's a chance it won't be a pretty game this afternoon.
It's coming up to almost 35 years since Millwall were in the top flight and considering the run they're currently on, they might fancy themselves for a top-six finish this season. Incidentally, it was the 1989-90 season, when it was the First Division and Teddy Sheringham finished as top scorer.
Since then, it's been a constant up and down between the second and third tier of English football. This season is their 8th consecutive year as a Championship club and they have turned back to the man who returned them there from League One all those years ago.
In those seven full seasons they have had four top-ten finishes, and after a wobbly start of losing four in the first eight games, they are now unbeaten in the last seven, with three wins in that run. But they have only scored six goals in the last eight games, so I'm not expecting a high scoring game today.
The betting...
The bookies have this as a tight one, with the Lads priced at 9/4, while a home win is priced at around 7/5, and the draw is 21/10.
Head to head... at Millwall
(All competitions)
- Sunderland wins: 5
- Draws: 7
- Millwall wins: 10
- Sunderland goals: 21
- Millwall goals: 29
Last time we met... at The Den
Saturday 2nd December 2023
Championship
Millwall 1-1 Sunderland
[Nisbet 44' - Clarke (pen) 78']
Sunderland: Patterson, Hume, Ballard, O'Nien, Huggins, Neil (Mayenda), Ekwah, Ba (Roberts), Aouchiche (Pritchard), Clarke, Burstow (Dack) Substitutes not used: Bishop, Triantis, Taylor, Bellingham, Hemir
Millwall: Bialkowski, Leonard, Wallace, Saville, Harding, Cooper, Norton-Cuffy, Mitchell, Flemming (Watmore), Nisbet (Bradshaw), Honeyman (Longman) Substitutes not used: Sarkic, McNamara, Hutchinson, Esse, Campbell, Emakhu
Attendance: 17,815
Played for both...
Alex Rae
The Glasgow-born midfielder began his career at Falkirk where he spent three years making a name for himself in Scotland before a £100,000 move to Millwall came in 1990.
Rae spent six years at Millwall making well over 200 appearances before coming Sunderland's first ever £1m signing in the summer of 1996 as we began life as a Premier League club for the first time.
After five years on Wearside, Rae moved to Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2001 which was followed by spells at Rangers, Dundee and Reading.
