Millwall vs Stoke City Prediction

Amid recent controversy over abusive crowd chants and general disrespect from Lions fans, Millwall will be looking to shut out the noise in a bid to build momentum, as they face Stoke City off the back of a crucial win away to Watford last time out.

Ranked the sixth best team in the Championship on their travels, the three points they took away from Vicarage Road gave Millwall the confidence to look up the table and back themselves as outsiders for a play-off push. Afterall, they are only eight points off sixth.

Meanwhile, Stoke will be equally hungry for a victory here, as a win would create some breathing room between themselves and the dark void of the relegation zone. Winless in four, and lurking just one point above 22nd, Stoke must win soon in order to maintain a gap.

As a big game for two teams with differing goals approaches, here is everything you need to know about both sides ahead of kick-off.

Key Statistics

• Millwall haven’t lost against Stoke in five meetings, with the Potter’s last victory coming at the Bet365 Stadium in 2022.
• Despite the seven place gap between the two sides, they have both scored the same number of goals this season (36).
• Stoke, despite scoring eight goals in their last five games, have conceded eleven, allowing them to pick up just four points from these fixtures.
• Both sides are suffering from a multitude of injuries and suspensions: Millwall have seven absentees, while Stoke are missing five of their own.

Millwall Preview

Millwall Predicted Lineup (4-2-3-1): Lukas Bornhoft Jensen (GK); Joe Bryan, Jake Cooper, Japhet Tanganga, Tristan Crama; Billy Mitchell, Casper de Norre; Aidomo Emakhu, Luke Cundle, George Honeyman; Josh Coburn.

Millwall have become a controversial entity in recent weeks. Following goalkeeper Liam Roberts attempted beheading of Crystal Palace’s Jean-Philippe Mateta and a resulting six match ban, Millwall fans have been heard singing various, not particularly tasteful songs about it, chief among them “25 stitches, it should have been more”.

However, aside from the nonsense in the stands, Millwall have been on an upward trend recently, underlined by victory at Watford, which puts them within range of a number of teams vying for promotion.

Faced with Stoke, Millwall are posed with a super opportunity to win consecutive games, and should other results go in their favour, they can end Saturday as high as 10th, and could be just five points from sixth placed Coventry.

Stoke City Preview

Stoke City Predicted Lineup (4-4-2): Viktor Johansson (GK); Enda Stevens, Ben Wilmot, Ashley Phillips, Junior Tchamadeu; Joon-Ho Bae, Wouter Burger, Ben Pearson, Lewis Koumas; Ali Al Hamadi, Sam Gallagher.

It was heartbreak last time out for Stoke City and coach Mark Robins. With 97 minutes on the board against Coventry, and the scores tied at 2-2, the Potters thought they had done enough to secure a vital point. However, Sky Blues centre back Bobby Thomas had other ideas, and rocketed home a dramatic late winner to condemn Stoke to four games without a win.

Their poor form hasn’t necessarily been deserved. They have been scoring regularly, but defensive errors and lapses in concentration have cost them, emphasised by the fact that in their last three defeats, they have conceded 10 goals in total. Once they concede one, others tend to follow.

However, Millwall pose a different type of challenge for Stoke. The home side tend to focus on keeping it tight and nicking the odd goal, so Stoke will have the opportunity to come onto Millwall and control large portions of the game. However, the Lions are tricky to score again, and Stoke will need to look to Sam Gallagher once again, who scored twice of the bench against Coventry.

Millwall vs Stoke City Head to Head

Recent Meetings:

• 09/11/2024: Stoke 1-1 Millwall.
• 23/12/2023: Stoke 0-0 Millwall.
• 26/08/2023: Millwall 1-0 Stoke.
• 25/02/2023: Stoke 0-1 Millwall.
• 30/07/2022: Millwall 2-0 Stoke.

Millwall vs Stoke City Betting Tip

Both sides will crave this win: Stoke to edge closer to safety, and Millwall to claw themselves closer to the play-off spots. Consequently, both sides will throw everything at each other, and this could end up to be a surprisingly high-scoring game. We are backing over 2.5 goals and both teams to score.

Millwall vs Stoke City Final Prediction

Millwall 2-1 Stoke City

While many want them to lose in light of recent controversy, Millwall are a tough nut to crack, and have a knack of getting the job done. It won’t be pretty (in fact it will very likely be scrappy), but the Lions will pick up all three points to pile pressure onto the teams above them.