Portsmouth vs Millwall Preview

09 April 2012 14:32
Another "must win" game with Pompey's Championship survival hanging by a thread.

After the euphoria of David Norris' last-gasp equaliser at St. Mary's on Saturday attention now turns towards an even more important home game with Millwall tomorrow.

Team News

Michael Appleton is likely to stick with the same side that earned the dramatic 2-2 draw at Southampton as Tal Ben-Haim is still struggling with a calf injury.

Pompey will be boosted by the news that Millwall's top scorer Darius Henderson is likely to miss out with a calf injury whilst Liam Trotter, who scored in the corresponding fixture last season, is out with a thigh problem.

The Match

Now that the dust has settled following the south coast derby, Pompey return home for a game they simply have to win against a Millwall side who aren't safe from relegation themselves.

Bristol City's win at Nottingham Forest on Saturday means that Portsmouth are now six points from safety with only five games to go. Coventry also kept the Blues at arms length with a draw against Peterborough and remain four points ahead.

With the two playing each other today, one, if not, both teams will pick up points today which means that anything other than victory for Pompey will all-but-confirm relegation to League One.

The Lions arrive at Fratton Park having beaten a dire Hull side and should 19-goal striker Darius Henderson not feature then I'll be confident that Pompey can win this one.

The only real worries going into this one are the defending from set-pieces which needs to improve after Southampton exploited that on Saturday and that the players might have burned themselves out.

But I'm confident that everyone associated with Portsmouth has been inspired by the result at St. Mary's and will do the business when it really matters tomorrow night.

Predicted Starting Line-Ups

Pompey

GK: Jamie ASHDOWN

RB: Joel WARD

CB: Ricardo ROCHA

CB: Jason PEARCE

LB: Karim REKIK

DM: Greg HALFORD

CM: Kelvin ETUHU

CM: Scott ALLAN

AM: David NORRIS

CF: Luke VARNEY

CF: Chris MAGUIRE

Millwall

GK: Maik TAYLOR

RB: Tony CRAIG

CB: Paul ROBINSON

CB: Shane LOWRY

LB: Jack SMITH

RM: James HENRY

CM: Josh WRIGHT

CM: Nadjim ABDOU

LM: Hameur BOUAZZA

CF: Andy KEOGH

CF: Harry KANE

Last Time: Portsmouth 1 Millwall 1 (Championship - 26/12/2011)

Pompey fell behind in a poor first half courtesy of Liam Trotter's header after Ashdown could only parry Alan Dunne's shot. David Nugent equalised in the second half with a close range header of his own as the spoils were shared on Boxing Day.

My Prediction

We surely can't let Saturday's result count for nothing. Millwall will be difficult opposition but I don't see our relegation to League One coming so soon.

Portsmouth 2 Millwall 1

Source: FOOTYMAD