This Week's Opposition: Millwall

The Blues' midweek opponents at Fratton Park are assessed.

For the 3rd time this season, Portsmouth welcome Millwall to the South Coast on Tuesday night.

Here’s all you need to know about The Lions…

MANAGER

Since Millwall and Neil Harris parted ways back in December, former Norwich City, Preston North End and Stoke City boss Alex Neil has taken over at The Den.

The 43-year-old has twice won promotion for English sides, first guiding Norwich to the Premier League thanks to Championship Play-Off success in 2015 before helping Sunderland win promotion from League One via the same Play-Off system in 2022.

Neil signed a “long-term” contract with the club and appointed Martin Canning as his assistant.

ONE TO WATCH

20-year-old Serbian striker Mihailo Ivanović could very well cause Pompey a few problems on Tuesday night.

He arrived at the club from Serbian SuperLiga outfit FK Vojvodina for a reported fee of £2.5million back in August and has recently found his way into the starting XI, coming off the bench to feature in all bar 3 of his previous 14 league appearances.

The centre-forward has bagged 2 goals from his last 4 appearances in all competitions, most recently finding the back of the net in Millwall’s game at the weekend.

TOP SCORER

With 5 goals from 23 Championship appearances so far this season, 30-year-old Duncan Watmore is Millwall’s leading scorer.

The former Altrincham and Sunderland man joined the club on Deadline Day in the 2023 January transfer window for an undisclosed fee from Middlesbrough.

Watmore will be the player donning the number 19 shirt for this week’s opponents at PO4.

CURRENT FORM

Millwall have won 2, drawn 2 and lost 2 of the 6 matches that Alex Neil has taken charge of so far.

They sit 16th in the Championship on 34 points and a +1 goal difference following a 1-0 win at Luton on Saturday.

These 2 sides met back in August for the First Round of the Carabao Cup and it was The Lions who progressed on that night, following a first half strike from 19-year-old Romain Esse, who has since been snapped up by Crystal Palace.

This fixture was supposed to have been played in November but a power failure left Fratton Park in total darkness for almost an hour - By the time the match was deemed safe to play, the decision was made to postpone on account of getting the travelling fans home before their final train was due to leave the island.

Can the Blues get the business done again on home soil after an embarrassment on the road last time out?

Jake Smith will be joined by Pepe Lacey and James Wilson to deliver full coverage of this Championship fixture involving Portsmouth and Millwall at Fratton Park when Pompey Live returns to the airwaves from 7pm on Tuesday (January 28th) evening!

Kick-off: 7:45pm!