Team News
Aaron Mokoena serves a one match ban after picking up five yellow cards already this season, so Ibrahima Sonko will replace him. John Utaka may be ready for a return to the side after a hamstring injury whilst David Nugent is battling a virus.
Kenny Jackett can recall Alan Dunne and Liam Trotter after suspensions to the pair ruled them out of Millwall's last victory at Crystal Palace.
The Match
Given the "history" between the fans of these two clubs, there is a small focus on what's going to happen off the pitch rather than on it when fans of both clubs meet tomorrow.
However, that factor is probably over-highlighted, after all we're not in the 80's and I expect all the action to happen on the pitch in a game that Pompey have a fair chance of winning.
Confidence is high having taken 10 points from the last 12 available, scoring 14 goals in the last 4 games. Unfortunately that stat has been offset by the fact that the Blues have also conceded 6 goals in those games and have kept only one clean sheet all season.
On the other hand, our hosts have hardly been in the best of form. Prior to their victory at struggling Palace, the Lions had failed to win any of their previous seven games, a sequence that included a 6-1 thrashing from the team we just beat on Saturday.
I'm confident of getting a result tomorrow night. We have the players to cause Millwall plenty of problems though the defence worries me, especially as Sonko will be part of it. Still, he has a chance to ram the words of his critics down their throats with a good performance.
This is the first time we've been to the Den for a while, so expect an intimidating atmosphere and some "blood and thunder" challenges in an entertaining match.
Predicted Starting Line-Ups
Millwall
GK: David FORDE
RB: Alan DUNNE
CB: Darren WARD
CB: Paul ROBINSON
LB: Scott BARRON
RM: Chris HACKETT
CM: Nadjim ABDOU
CM: Liam TROTTER
LM: Danny SCHOFIELD
CF: Steve MORISON
CF: Theo ROBINSON
Pompey
GK: Jamie ASHDOWN
RB: Joel WARD
CB: Ibrahima SONKO
CB: Ricardo ROCHA
LB: Carl DICKINSON
RM: Liam LAWRENCE
CM: Hayden MULLINS
CM: Michael BROWN
LM: John UTAKA
CF: David NUGENT
CF: Dave KITSON
Last Time: Millwall 0 Portsmouth 5 (Division One - 01/03/2003)
The Lions were well and truly maimed on their own turf as rampant Pompey went 4-0 up in the first half thanks to two goals from Yakubu and one from Tim Sherwood and Svetoslav Todorov.
Paul Merson scored a penalty in the second half to cap a performance that saw him applauded off by the home fans. Unfortunately there were no Pompey fans at the game to do the same due to a ban from the Metropolitan Police.
My Prediction
We're scoring for fun but we're away from home and I'm still not convinced our defending is good enough to keep clean sheets regularly at this level. I'll sit on the fence and go for an entertaining draw.
Millwall 2 Portsmouth 2