Nothing To Play For But Pride For The Lions? 3 Things v Millwall

Three Things – Millwall

This weekend sees the final round of scheduled Championship fixtures as we travel down to the New Den to face Millwall. A few weeks ago, this match looked as if it would have plenty riding on it for both teams, as we chased automatic promotion and Millwall were looking to secure an unlikely and unexpected play-off spot – unlikely and unexpected because they had only just come up from League One last summer.

Unfortunately for both of us, we failed in our objectives and the game now is something of a dead rubber. We are guaranteed to finish in fourth spot, while Millwall would need results elsewhere to go their way, as well as overturning a nine-goal deficit, to pip Derby into sixth. There is no way in the world they will put enough goals past Villa, so it’s not unreasonable to say there is really nothing much at stake in this match.

1) What team do we put out?

As with last week’s Three Things, the question is what kind of team Steve Bruce will put out. League rules mean we can’t rest everyone and ‘play the kids’, but that’s not Bruce’s style anyway. He played pretty much a full-strength side against Derby at the weekend, with Alan Hutton and Jonathan Kodjia coming on and getting valuable minutes under their belts as they recover from injury.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see both of them starting on Sunday. Irrespective of the severity of Neil Taylor’s knock, he had what could charitably be described as a stinker before being subbed, and Hutton turned in a MOTM performance once he came on. I can see Sunday’s team being not far off the one which finished the game against Derby, although I would be tempted to rest John Terry and Jack Grealish ahead of the play-offs.

 

 

They are two key players for us and Terry is only just back from injury, while Millwall are a no-nonsense side who wouldn’t think twice about kicking Super Jack all around south London, so I’d err on the side of caution and give him a rest.

Johnstone, Elmo, Chester, Jedinak, Hutton, Snodgrass, Whelan, Hourihane, Lansbury, Onomah, Hogan. Subs: Bunn, Bree/Taylor, Terry, Barney (if fit), Adomah, Kodjia, Grabban.

2) Head-to-head

I was amazed to discover that we have hardly played Millwall – since the first meeting in 1900, we have only played them 32 times in all competitions. We don’t have that great a record either – we’ve won 14, lost 8 and drawn 10. The majority of our matches came in the late 1960s and early 1970s when we spent a fair amount of time outside the top flight. The last time we were promoted in 1988, Millwall also came up, as Division Two champions.

We then played a series of matches against them between 1988 and 1990, but it would be a further 23 years until our next meeting, a 2-1 FA Cup reverse in 2013. Honours were even in a fairly uneventful (and totally forgettable) 0-0 at the start of last December.

George Graham is the most high-profile figure to have ties to both clubs, having started his professional career at Villa Park back in 1961 (8 appearances in three years) and subsequently beginning his managerial career with Millwall in 1982. More recently, Australian defender Shane Lowry made the move from Villa to the New Den back in 2012, having made only three substitute appearances for Villa in his four-year spell.

3) Take it easy

With nothing to play for apart from pride, I would expect Villa to take it easy on Sunday. Although there is an argument for maintaining momentum going into the play-offs, I really don’t think the result will have any significant bearing on what will happen going forward.

https://youtu.be/mSScV6Rt_6s

Whoever plays, we don’t want any needless injuries and definitely don’t want any red cards and suspensions for the play-offs. Hopefully, one or two of the players – I’m thinking Henri Lansbury and Scott Hogan – can take the opportunity to stake their claim ahead of the final promotion push. The main thing is that we come out of Sunday’s match intact, with a full squad to choose from. I’m all a bit ‘meh’ about this one – I can’t wait for the serious business of the play-offs to begin!

COME ON YOU LIONS! (Not Millwall, obviously).