PREVIEW: Coventry vs. Millwall - All eyes on Sky as Lions hunt for form in difficult Sunday TV clash

MILLWALL will be hunting for form live on Sky Sports as they face Coventry City in a daunting away test. 

It’s five games without a win for the Lions who seem to have already lost some of the credit they built up with that fantastic run of form over Christmas.

A dreadful defeat to Queens Park Rangers aside, they have not looked a million miles away from being a team who can compete and pick up regular results.

And that is exactly what they will have to do in the coming months now the teams in and around the relegation zone have started winning again.

Coventry, in contrast, are comfortably in the top half of the table and had been on a ten-game unbeaten run before being defeated 2-1 by Norwich City last week in a game that saw defender Liam Kitching sent off.

The Sky Blues lost last season’s play-off final to Luton Town last May and did not look themselves at the beginning of the campaign, having also sold some big name players over the summer.

But Mark Robins’ team are back and look good bets for the top six again. Tatsuhiro Sakamoto, Haji Wright and Callum O’Hare have emerged as three of their main stars and have shared 22 goals in all competitions. Their top scorer with nine goals, Matt Godden, has not scored in the league since netting at The Den in Coventry’s 3-0 win last November.

O’Hare, who spent the best part of a year out due to knee surgery, missed the first 12 games of the season but has been a driving force for the side ever since.

It’s worth mentioning Kasey Palmer as well who faced racial abuse during Coventry’s 2-1 win at Sheffield Wednesday in January.

The FA Cup draw then made the two Championship sides meet six days later at Hillsborough in a game that finished 1-1 before Palmer scored the opener in Tuesday’s night 4-1 replay win. He lifted his shirt to unveil a message that read ‘Less Talk and More Action’ after scoring.

Overall, Coventry boast an experienced and effective team and Millwall will likely have to be at their best to win at the CBS Arena on Sunday, where Robins’ side have not lost since October.

Adam Mayor could be in line to make his Lions debut after he missed last week’s 1-0 loss to Hull City due to a suspension he picked up at former club Morecambe.

And fellow teenager Romain Esse will also be hoping for the opportunity to strut his stuff after getting a combined 73 minutes off the bench in the last two games where he has shown positive flourishes.

The Lions will be without Kevin Nisbet for at least two months while Shaun Hutchinson will also be out after a calf setback. Ryan Longman is still recovering from his shoulder dislocation and Aidomo Emakhu is not yet ready to return from his ankle issue. In much better news, Ryan Leonard is back to fitness and is now set for a fight with Japhet Tanganga, Wes Harding and Jake Cooper for a starting spot in the backline.

Millwall have had a mixed record facing Coventry in recent years, winning three and losing three of their last six. One of those defeats included the 6-1 hammering in May 2021.

– Stat Station –

• This will be Millwall’s first game on a Sunday since they were beaten 3-0 at home by Leeds in September. A month earlier they had also fallen to a calamitous defeat away at Norwich on the final day of the week. Not including red button midweek games, the Lions don’t have a great current record when they are live on Sky Sports, losing three from four this season. They have also had three different men on the touchline across those four games with Gary Rowett the boss for defeats to Norwich and Leeds, Adam Barrett in caretaker charge for the lunchtime Saturday draw with Preston in October while Joe Edwards’ third match as head coach was the 3-1 midweek loss at Ipswich at the end of November.
• The Lions have played on every day of the week this season apart from Thursday.
• Millwall’s last seven trips away to Coventry since 2011 have followed this sequence: Loss, Win, Loss, Win, Loss, Win, Loss. In fact there hasn’t been a draw when Millwall visit Coventry in the last 14 games going back to 1988.
• Tom Bradshaw has 4 goals in 11 matches against Coventry while Michael Obafemi has two goals and an assist in his two matches against the Sky Blues.
• At least two Millwall players have been booked in 16 of the Lions’ last 17 league games. The exception was the 1-1 draw with Huddersfield in December when every player managed to escape punishment.
• Following defeat at Hull City last week, Joe Edwards has now lost 5 of his 8 away games in charge.
• With nine goals in all competitions, Matt Godden leads Coventry’s scoring charts. But he has not netted in any of his last 10 Championship appearances and his last league goal was against Millwall in the 3-0 win at The Den in November.
• In 12 starts in all competitions this season, midfielder Callum O’Hare has grabbed a brace in three of those games, including Tuesday night’s FA Cup fourth-round replay win against Sheffield Wednesday. No Millwall player has scored twice in a single game since Duncan Watmore against Blackburn on the final day of last season.
• Coventry have lost just 2 of their last 18 games in all competitions and are unbeaten at home since October 30. While they have only lost once at home all season, they have drawn 8 of their 15 games at the CBS Arena.

Injury List (4)

Aidomo Emakhu – ankle – last match: vs Bristol City – January 1 – Could be back for Ipswich or Sheffield Wednesday games next weekRyan Longman – shoulder – last match: vs Preston – January 27 – Could be back as soon as Ipswich midweek gameKevin Nisbet – hamstring – last match: vs Preston – January 27 – Minimum two months outShaun Hutchinson – calf – last match: vs Bristol City – January 1 – Out for a few weeks

–

Suspension Watch – players with two or more yellows so far (10 yellow cards accumulated in the first 37 games result in a two game suspension).

Jake Cooper – 8 (booked against Middlesbrough, Swansea, Plymouth, Sheffield Wednesday, Sunderland, Leicester, Stoke and Norwich)George Saville – 6 (booked against Stoke, Watford, Sheffield Wednesday, Coventry, Sunderland and Leicester. Sent off against Norwich)Murray Wallace – 6 (booked against Plymouth, Southampton, Coventry, Leicester, QPR and Hull)George Honeyman – 5 (booked against Ipswich, QPR, Norwich, Middlesbrough and Preston)Wes Harding – 4 (booked against Birmingham, Hull, Leicester and Stoke)Brooke Norton-Cuffy – 4 (booked against Birmingham, Plymouth, Watford and Bristol City)Ryan Leonard – 4 (booked against Plymouth, Cardiff, Norwich and Bristol City)Ryan Longman – 4 (booked against Rotherham, Swansea, Southampton and Middlesbrough)Zian Flemming – 4 (booked against Watford, Ipswich, QPR and Preston)Danny McNamara – 3 (booked against West Brom, Plymouth and Hull)Joe Bryan – 3 (booked against Middlesbrough (x2) and Hull)Billy Mitchell – 3 (booked against Norwich, Stoke and QPR)Casper De Norre – 3 (booked against Hull (x2) and Ipswich)Shaun Hutchinson – 2 (booked against Bristol City and Cardiff)Aidomo Emakhu – 2 (booked against Preston and QPR)Duncan Watmore – 2 (booked against Sunderland and Norwich)