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Southwarknews 5mos ago
Preview: Millwall vs. Plymouth – Argyle in desperate need of points as they look to spoil the feel-good mood in final game at The Den
Source:Southwarknews

PLYMOUTH Argyle will be fighting for their lives when they arrive as the final visitors of the season to The Den.

Neil Harris remains unbeaten in his five home matches since returning and has Millwall purring in front of their own fans.

Having secured safety against Sunderland, the Lions can approach this game with more freedom and try to put on a show against the Devon outfit.

Zian Flemming opened the scoring in the reverse fixture. Image: Millwall FC Unlike Millwall, Plymouth remain as one of seven teams who could join Rotherham United and go down into League One. They sit only two points above the drop.

A 3-0 defeat last Saturday to relegation rivals Stoke City, who are led by their former manager Steven Schumacher, has done serious damage to Argyle's efforts to keep their heads above water.

Plymouth have not dipped their toes into the relegation zone all season long but have struggled ever since Schumacher departed in December.

Ian Foster was sacked earlier this month after winning just four of his seventeen games in charge.

The makeshift team of Director of Football Neil Dewsnip and first-team coach Kevin Nancekivell have been trying to keep things steady in the four games since and have picked up a credible seven points since taking over from Foster.

You wonder where Plymouth would be without the excellent Morgan Whittaker who, with 19 league goals this season, only trails Blackburn Rovers' Sammie Szmodics (25) and Adam Armstrong (20) of Southampton in the scoring charts.

Ryan Hardie is also enjoying a strong campaign with 13 goals while no Millwall player has yet to reach double figures this season.

Plymouth's away form had been a sticking point but they have only lost four of their last 11 away games and, with more on the line than the Lions on Saturday, could prove to be tricky customers.

The goal for Millwall will be to end their season on a high and a home match against a struggling side gives them the chance to entertain The Den like they did against Leicester City and Cardiff City.

It's not been an easy campaign at home with Millwall suffering 11 defeats in front of their own supporters in all competitions, four more than last season.

The Lions announced earlier this afternoon that Bartosz Bialkowski will be leaving the club at the end of the season following the expiration of his contract, opening the potential of Harris giving the long-serving and popular keeper one last outing in goal in front of home faithful. The Polish stopper has made 169 appearances for Millwall and was twice awarded the player of the year award.

He has also contributed to events in this campaign when he had to make 14 appearances in the first half of the season to replace the injured Matija Sarkic.

With Shaun Hutchinson's contract situation still also officially unresolved, this game could potentially also be his last at The Den.

Millwall and Plymouth last met in October in what proved to be Gary Rowett's last victory as Lions boss. Second half goals from Zian Flemming and George Saville wrapped up the points at Home Park.

Millwall are unbeaten in their last nine games against Plymouth going back to December 1997. Argyle have not won at The Den since 1967, a run of 17 unsuccessful trips.

George Saville and Brooke Norton-Cuffy celebrate Saville's late goal at Plymouth in October. Image: Millwall FC - Stat Station - Millwall are aiming for their fourth win in a row for the first time since October 2022. Duncan Watmore's 'goal' against Sunderland last week has since been reclassified as a Dan Ballard own goal. It means that Watmore keeps up his record of all seven of his Millwall goals coming in London and six of them coming at The Den (the other was at Loftus Road). His last goal outside of the capital was for former club Middlesbrough in a 3-1 loss at Burnley in December 2022. Watmore could make his 50th Millwall appearance tomorrow. He is still the last Lions player to score more than once in a game when he hit a brace in the 4-3 loss to Blackburn Rovers last May, which was Millwall's final home game of last season. Even with the turnaround in points Neil Harris has delivered since returning as Lions boss, this season will still go down as one of Millwall's poorest at The Den in recent years.Points gained at The Den over the last five seasons2023-24: 29 (one game remaining)2022-23: 392021-22: 452020-21: 312019-20: 382018-19: 30 Staying with home points, Harris has picked up 13 of Millwall's 29 points at home this season despite overseeing just five games.Percentage of home points delivered by each permanent Millwall manager this seasonNeil Harris: 44% - (13 points from five home games in charge)Joe Edwards: 31% - (nine points from nine home games in charge)Gary Rowett: 24% - (seven points from six home games in charge) Plymouth have the third-worst away record in the league with 16 points from 22 games. They failed to win any of their first 14 away games this season. Six of Morgan Whittaker's last nine goals have come away from home. Elsewhere... Three potentially trick away fixtures greet the sides going for automatic promotion with second-place Leeds United at Queens Park Rangers tonight, Ipswich Town going to Hull City tomorrow evening and Leicester City at Preston North End on Monday night. Leicester can be promoted at Deepdale if either of their rivals fail to win their games.

Down at the bottom, the stakes could hardly be higher when second-bottom Huddersfield Town host third-bottom Birmingham City tomorrow afternoon.

Injury List (2) Murray Wallace - back - last match: vs Rotherham - April 1 - Out for the rest of the seasonJoe Bryan - groin - last match: vs West Brom - March 29 - Could return

Suspension Watch - players with two or more yellows so far (15 yellow cards accumulated before the end of the regular season will result in a three game suspension).

George Saville - 11 (booked against Stoke, Watford, Sheffield Wednesday (x2), Coventry, Sunderland and Leicester (x2), Ipswich, Huddersfield and Cardiff).Jake Cooper - 9 (booked against Middlesbrough, Swansea, Plymouth, Sheffield Wednesday, Sunderland, Leicester, Stoke, Norwich and Leeds)Ryan Leonard - 9 (booked against Plymouth, Cardiff, Norwich, Bristol City, Ipswich, Watford, Birmingham, Leeds and Huddersfield)George Honeyman - 9 (booked against Ipswich, QPR, Norwich, Middlesbrough, Preston, Sheffield Wednesday, Southampton, Leeds and Leicester)Zian Flemming - 7 (booked against Watford (x2), Ipswich, QPR, Preston, Leeds and Sunderland)Murray Wallace - 6 (booked against Plymouth, Southampton, Coventry, Leicester, QPR and Hull)Danny McNamara - 6 (booked against West Brom, Plymouth, Hull, Ipswich, Watford and Huddersfield)Joe Bryan - 5 (booked against Middlesbrough (x2), Hull, Birmingham and West Brom)Ryan Longman - 5 (booked against Rotherham, Swansea, Southampton, Middlesbrough and Cardiff)Wes Harding - 4 (booked against Birmingham, Hull, Leicester and Stoke)Brooke Norton-Cuffy - 4 (booked against Birmingham, Plymouth, Watford and Bristol City)Billy Mitchell - 4 (booked against Norwich, Stoke, QPR and Huddersfield)Casper De Norre - 3 (booked against Hull (x2) and Ipswich)Japhet Tanganga - 3 (booked against Sheffield Wednesday, Southampton and Blackburn)Duncan Watmore - 3 (booked against Sunderland, Norwich and Cardiff)Shaun Hutchinson - 2 (booked against Bristol City and Cardiff)Aidomo Emakhu - 2 (booked against Preston and QPR)Matija Sarkic - 2 (booked against Southampton and Leicester)