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Stoke logo
Championship | Gameweek 39
Mar 19, 2022 at 3pm UK
bet365 Stadium
Millwall logo

Stoke
2 - 0
Millwall

Brown (19'), Saville (70' og.)
Tymon (56'), Brown (65'), Thompson (84')
FT(HT: 1-0)

Ballard (85')

Preview: Stoke City vs. Millwall - prediction, team news, lineups

Sports Mole previews Saturday's Championship clash between Stoke City and Millwall, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

Millwall make the trip to the bet365 Stadium to face Stoke City on Saturday afternoon looking to extend their unbeaten Championship streak to nine matches.

At a time when the Lions sit just two points adrift of the playoffs, Stoke are down in 16th position with manager Michael O'Neill under pressure to keep his job at the Potters.


Match preview

Stoke City manager Michael O'Neill looks on on March 1, 2022© Reuters

For a long time during his reign, O'Neill has looked to be the perfect fit for Stoke, the Northern Irishman being provided with the patience required to put everything in place to deliver promotion to the Premier League.

However, despite possessing a talented group of players and being given the licence to shake up his squad in January, Stoke have nose-dived out of the promotion race.

Since the turn of the year, 11 points have been collected from 14 games, the fact that only Reading and Peterborough United possess worse returns highlighting how badly Stoke have been performing.

Their current Championship winless streak stands at eight matches, and Stoke have let slip a lead in five of those games, the latest occurrence at Cardiff City earlier this week.

Although O'Neill can take some positives from his team not conceding more than twice in any of their last 11 outings, he knows that only a miraculous upturn in results will keep him in the Potters dugout.

Millwall manager Gary Rowett on March 8, 2022© Reuters

In sharp contrast, there was a time earlier in the season where Gary Rowett's Millwall squad appeared to be heading nowhere given a constant standing of mid-table.

That has now changed and as the form team in the division since February 12, the Lions will have total belief that they can now gatecrash the playoff spots.

Millwall ended Huddersfield Town's lengthy Championship unbeaten streak on Wednesday, a double from Benik Afobe earning a 2-0 victory at The Den.

While the East Londoners have only netted 10 times in eight matches, they have conceded just twice, their current run of clean sheets standing at five games.

Only Fulham and Bournemouth possess better defensive records this season, and Rowett will recognise that none of their rivals will fancy playing them in the playoffs should they participate in the end-of-season shootout.

Stoke City Championship form:
  • L
  • L
  • L
  • D
  • D
  • L

Stoke City form (all competitions):
  • L
  • L
  • L
  • D
  • D
  • L

Millwall Championship form:
  • W
  • W
  • W
  • D
  • D
  • W



Team News

Stoke City's Mario Vrancic celebrates scoring their first goal against Hull City in the Championship on September 25, 2021© Reuters

Having changed tactics and personnel for the game at Cardiff, O'Neill must decide whether to persevere with at least one of the two for this contest.

A quick turnaround is more likely to lead to squad rotation, Mario Vrancic and Josh Maja both alternatives in midfield and attack respectively.

Tommy Smith is pushing for a return at right-back after a spell on the sidelines, but the defender may be the only player to be removed from the list of sidelined players.

Barring any injury issues, Rowett will see no reason to make changes to the team which started the meeting with Huddersfield.

Sheyi Ojo has recently made a welcome return to the substitutes' bench after two months out, and Tom Bradshaw is also pushing to be named among the replacements.

Stoke City possible starting lineup:
Bonham; Wilmot, Chester, Harwood-Bellis, Fox; Baker, Allen, Vrancic; Brown, Maja, Tymon

Millwall possible starting lineup:
Bialkowski; Ballard, Cooper, Wallace; McNamara, Mitchell, Saville, Malone; Wallace, Bennett; Afobe


SM words green background

We say: Stoke City 1-2 Millwall

With O'Neill potentially being at the point of no return, he will surely instruct his side to attack their opponents on Saturday. Nevertheless, that will not necessarily trouble a well-drilled Millwall side, and we are backing the visitors to fight their way to a narrow win.



Top tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting under 2.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Under 2.5:data



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Data Analysis

Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Stoke City win with a probability of 50.47%. A draw had a probability of 26.5% and a win for Millwall had a probability of 23%.

The most likely scoreline for a Stoke City win was 1-0 with a probability of 13.85%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (10.14%) and 2-1 (9.06%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.38%), while for a Millwall win it was 0-1 (8.46%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with a 10.1% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Stoke City would win this match.


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Game History

How you voted: Stoke vs Millwall

Stoke City
37.1%
Draw
5.7%
Millwall
57.1%
35
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Bournemouth's Ryan Christie celebrates after scoring their first goal on March 8, 2022
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Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
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2Sheffield UnitedSheff Utd1510321971231
3Leeds UnitedLeeds158522491529
4Burnley157621861227
5West Bromwich AlbionWest Brom15672169725
6Watford158162322125
7Middlesbrough157352317624
8Millwall156541813523
9Blackburn RoversBlackburn156451917222
10Bristol City155732019122
11Swansea CitySwansea155461110119
12Derby CountyDerby155461919019
13Stoke CityStoke155461819-119
14Norwich CityNorwich154652322118
15Sheffield WednesdaySheff Weds155371725-818
16Oxford UnitedOxford Utd154561718-117
17Coventry CityCoventry154472021-116
18Plymouth ArgylePlymouth154471526-1116
19Hull City153661620-415
20Preston North EndPreston153661523-815
21Luton TownLuton154381726-915
22Cardiff CityCardiff154381423-915
23Portsmouth152671628-1212
24Queens Park RangersQPR151771225-1310


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