Ian Holloway raised many eyebrows when he claimed that his Millwall side would be challenging in the top half of the Championship table this season, but the Lions have started well enough to suggest that that could be the case.

They go into Saturday's match away to Ipswich Town having picked up 10 points from their opening five games, leaving them fifth in the early league standings.

Their form had begun to falter during the second half of August after a good start to the campaign, with defeat at home to Rotherham United marking an early low point for Holloway's side.

However, they bounced back to winning ways before the international break, taking advantage of Blackpool's troubled situation with a 2-1 victory over the Tangerines at The Den.

With no new injury concerns to worry about, Millwall could well be unchanged from that victory as they look to pick up another three points that could take them joint top, depending on results elsewhere.

By contrast, Ipswich have failed to back up an impressive opening-weekend win over Fulham so far and are without a win in their last five outings in all competitions.

Narrow defeats against fellow playoff hopefuls Reading and bitter rivals Norwich City were not exactly huge shocks, however, and Mick McCarthy will be confident that his side can start to build some momentum when easier tests come around.

Even so, if they are to push for a top-six finish this season, they will need to get more out of such games, and they managed to do that in their last outing before the international break, picking up a point against Derby County.

Even better news followed for the Tractor Boys as they kept hold of last season's top scorer David McGoldrick in the transfer window, despite some heavy interest coming in from the Premier League.

The striker will return to the side this weekend having been left out of the squad for the last match, while Tyrone Mings, who also stayed at Portman Road despite being linked with a deadline-day move, is expected to be restored to the starting lineup.

Darren Ambrose returned to the club for a third stint earlier this week, but he is unlikely to feature from the start on Saturday.

Recent form

Ipswich: WLLDLD

Millwall: WWDLLW

Possible starting lineups

Ipswich: Gerken; Mings, Berra, Chambers, Parr; Tabb, Hyam, Bishop, Anderson; Murphy, McGoldrick

Millwall: Forde; Edwards, Dunne, Beevers, Malone; Powell, Williams, Martin, McDonald, Woolford; Fuller

Sports Mole says: 1-0

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