Millwall and Swansea City meet at The Den on Tuesday evening having both lost significant ground in the race to secure a spot in the Championship playoffs.
While Swansea sit four points adrift of Welsh rivals Cardiff City, Millwall have recorded a point fewer after failing to win either of their two games since the resumption.
Match preview
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Having put together a three-match unbeaten streak before the coronavirus pandemic, Millwall boss Gary Rowett would have been confident of prolonging that run upon the resumption.
However, despite showing glimmers of their qualities at both ends of the pitch, just one point has been recorded from fixtures against Derby County and Millwall respectively.
After seemingly being on the brink of moving into a playoff spot, Millwall now face an uphill task just to remain in contention, reaching a point where a defeat at this stage could realistically leave them out of the picture.
Nevertheless, Rowett will view a home encounter against opponents just above them and the following three games coming versus teams looking to avoid relegation as a window of opportunity.
Millwall have no-one left to play who currently occupy a position in the top eight, arguably providing them with the best run-in of any clubs looking to earn promotion to the Premier League.
Like the London outfit, Swansea missed out on a chance to gain maximum points against a side sitting in the bottom three at the weekend, suffering defeat at home to then-bottom-placed Luton Town.
Since netting three times in the first half at Middlesbrough last weekend, Swansea have gone three halves of football without finding the back of the net, a record which will naturally concern Steve Cooper.
The Welsh club now possess the second-worst scoring record, coincidentally behind Millwall, of the teams in the first 13 places, and the pressure is on their forward players to improve that return.
On a positive note, Liverpool loanee Rhian Brewster has produced his best performances away from the Liberty Stadium, netting all but one of his half-a-dozen goals on the road.
Millwall Championship form: LDDWLD
Swansea City Championship form: WLDDWL
Team News
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Swansea boss Cooper will be without Jordan Garrick, who picked up a red card after being introduced as a substitute against Luton.
Barring any fitness issues or tiredness within the ranks, Cooper could retain the same starting lineup.
Should alternations be made, centre-back Joe Rodon and winger Wayne Routledge appear to be in the best position to earn a recall.
As far as Millwall are concerned, forward Matt Smith is likely to return down the middle, potentially in place of Tom Bradshaw.
Ryan Woods is also pushing for a starting spot in midfield, while Shaun Hutchinson will feature should he show no ill effects having come through the 90 minutes at Oakwell.
Millwall possible starting lineup:
Bialkowski; Romeo, Hutchinson, Cooper, M.Wallace; Williams, Woods; J.Wallace, Molumby, Ferguson; Smith
Swansea City possible starting lineup:
Woodman; Roberts, Guehi, Wilmot, Bidwell; Byers, Grimes; Kalulu, Gallagher, Ayew; Brewster
We say: Millwall 1-1 Swansea City
Given what is at stake, both clubs can ill-afford a defeat on Tuesday evening. With that in mind, we are expecting a tense, low-scoring draw to be played in East London.
Darren Plant
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Millwall win with a probability of 39.39%. A win for Swansea City had a probability of 34.35% and a draw had a probability of 26.3%.
The most likely scoreline for a Millwall win was 1-0 with a probability of 9.96%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.5%) and 2-0 (6.78%). The likeliest Swansea City win was 0-1 (9.17%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.48%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with a 12.5% likelihood.
