This Week's Opposition: Millwall

Pompey Live's Kirsty Roxanne takes a closer look at the test that awaits for John Mousinho and his side at the weekend.

SUMMARY

After the 3rd international break of the season, the Blues are back at Fratton Park and this time to take on Millwall.

MANAGER

Alex Neil is in the dugout as head coach of The Lions.

He began his managerial career with Scottish side Hamilton Academical and has also managed the likes of Norwich City, Preston North End, Sunderland and most recently, Stoke City.

Whilst with Norwich, Neil led them to a Championship Play-Off Final victory over Middlesbrough in 2015 to earn a spot in the Premier League with The Canaries. He then spent 4 seasons with Preston North End and fell just shy of 200 matches in charge at Deepdale when he departed.

Neil arrived at Sunderland in February 2022 and guided them to a League One Play-Off Final success before then making the move to side Stoke.

The 44-year-old became Millwall’s new boss in December 2024 and now has over 300 Championship matches under his belt. He pushed The Lions into the top half of the table with 5 consecutive wins at the end of the last season and signed a new contract in May.

ONE TO WATCH

Wolfsberger loanee Thierno Ballo is our one to watch.

Ballo spent time in Bayer Leverkusen’s youth system before he progressed through the ranks at Chelsea, where he was part of the Under-17s, 18s, 21s and 23s. During his debut Under-18 campaign with the Blues, Ballo finished as top goalscorer for that respective age group and made a quick progression into the Under-23 side over the next 2 years, signing his first professional contract with Chelsea in January 2019.

He had a loan spell at Rapid Vienna, gaining European experience before a permanent move to Wolfsberger in 2022. Ballo scored 6 goals in his opening season, further netting 12 in 2023/24 and 10 the following season. The winger created a number of assists, awarding him his first cap with the Austrian national team.

Ballo has played 7 times so far this season, including in the UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League. The 23-year-old winger became a Lion for the remainder of the campaign on the 1st of September and there’s an option in the loan deal for the club to buy.

TOP SCORER

Femi Azeez is Millwall’s current leading goalscorer.

Azeez spent his early career at non-league clubs Northwood and Wealdstone before signing for Reading in September 2019. He was loaned out to Bracknell Town before making his senior debut for The Royals in 2021.

The 24-year-old gained experience in the second tier, scoring his first goals back-to-back in his third and fourth appearances for the Berkshire outfit.

After scoring 11 times in 89 appearances for Reading, it was confirmed that Azeez had completed a permanent move to Millwall for an undisclosed fee.

The forward has scored 4 goals and got 1 assist in 8 games so far this season, however we will not see the number 11 at Fratton Park due to a Hamstring injury, which is expected to keep him out till early December.

CURRENT FORM

Neil’s Lions currently occupy 6th and a Play-Off position in the Championship table with a total of 25 points - 14 places and 11 points above Portsmouth down in 20th.

Last season, Millwall gathered all 6 points from both fixtures and missed out on the Play-Offs by 3 points, finishing 8th.

With key players coming back from injury, can the Blues turn their season around and start to climb up the Championship table?

Find out and catch all of the unmissable action this Saturday (November 22nd) afternoon from 2pm with Jake Smith, Kirsty Roxanne and James Wilson reporting LIVE from Fratton Park with the latest helping of Pompey Live on Express FM.

Kick-off: 3pm!