Millwall are the visitors for Paul Warne's Rotherham United on Sunday at the AESSEAL New York Stadium in the Sky Bet Championship. We take a look at who the Millers will be facing in our opposition analysis.
In the Dugout
Neil Harris will be the man leading Millwall from the dugout on Sunday and he currently is the longest serving manager in the Championship. As a player, Harris played as a striker and represented Cambridge United, Millwall (twice), Cardiff City (Loan), Nottingham Forest, Gillingham (Loan) and Southend United. He made just over 500 career appearances and won the League One play-offs with Millwall in the 2009/10 season. As an individual, he was in the PFA Team of the Year 2000/01 for the second division and he is Millwall's record goalscorer with 138 goals in all competitions, ahead of Teddy Sheringham with 111. Harris is also fourth in Millwall's all-time appearances list with 432.
After retiring in June 2013, the 41 year old took up a coaching role at Millwall and was caretaker for the club on two separate occasions, 2014 and 2015. He was Millwall's U21 manager as well before being given the first team's manager position in April 2015. He won his first managerial honour in the 2016/17 season, when he got Millwall promoted to the Sky Bet Championship via the play-offs.
Stats
Millwall currently sit 14th in the table on five points after four games. Two successive draws at the start of the season against Middlesborough and Blackburn was followed by a 3-1 win on penalties against Gillingham in the Carabao Cup. The Lions then beat Derby 2-1 last weekend but lost 2-1 away at Sheffield Wednesday last time out.
Previous meetings
This is the 35th meeting between the two sides. Rotherham have won 12 of these fixtures with there being 9 draws. Millwall have won 13 of the fixtures. However, the Lions have only won once in their last four trips to Rotherham, a 3-2 win in League One in September 2006. Rotherham have won the last two fixtures between the sides, with the most recent in February 2015. 10,329 were in attendance at the AESSEAL New York Stadium to watch Rotherham prevail 2-1, courtesy of goals from Danny Ward and Kári Árnason which cancelled Martyn Woolford's opener, for the Millers to take all three points in the Sky Bet League One encounter.
Ones to Watch
Our ones to watch start with Scottish goalkeeper Jordan Archer. The 25-year old started his professional career with Charlton Athletic before joining Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur. He never made a competitive appearance for Spurs, but had successful loan spells at Harrow Borough, Bishop's Stortford, Wycombe Wanderers and Millwall before signing for the Lions permanently later in 2015. He has made over 100 appearances for the Lions and helped guide them to Sky Bet League One play-off victory in 2016/17 at Wembley. He has also represented Scotland at U19, U20, U21 and in May 2018, he earned his first senior cap for Scotland, a 2-0 defeat by Peru.
In defence, vice-captain Shaun Hutchinson has been ever present following his move from Fulham. Having previously represented Wallsend Boys Club and Motherwell, Fulham signed him in 2014 on a free transfer. He was a Scottish Cup runner up in the 2010/11 season, losing 3-0 to Celtic, and was Scottish Premier League Young Player of the Month in April 2012. He joined Millwall in June 2016 following his release from Fulham and was part of the side that won promotion via the play-offs in the 16/17 final. It is likely that he will be partnered by fellow play-off winner Jake Cooper, who signed from Reading in 2017. He has represented England at U18, U19 and U20 level.
In midfield, former Chelsea youth player George Saville is the creative spark. The Northern Ireland international scored 10 goals last season and could be partnered in the engine room by former Manchester United youth player Ryan Tunnicliffe on Sunday. The former England U16 and U17 international has been a revaluation for Millwall since joining in 2017 from Fulham. New winger Jirí Skalák has been coming off the bench in recent fixtures following his move from Brighton and youth product Fred Onyedinma is an exciting player who could be given an opportunity.
Upfront, Lee Gregory is one of the Lions’ the main threats. After rising through the non-league, his prolific spell at Halifax which included 95 goals in 155 appearances, earned him a move to Millwall in 2014. Since then he has scored 50 goals in over 150 appearances for the Lions and has scored once and assisted twice this season. He could be partnered by a number of strikers who include captain Steve Morrison, Irishman Aiden O'Brien, former AFC Wimbledon striker Tom Elliott or new signing Tom Bradshaw, who joined the club on Thursday on loan from Barnsley, with an option of a permanent in January.