Sports Mole previews Saturday’s Championship clash between Swansea City and Millwall, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Two sides separated by a single point in the bottom half of the Championship table will do battle in the final round of games of the season on Saturday, as Swansea City welcome Millwall to South Wales.
The teams will battle for 13th place in the second tier having both guaranteed their safety in recent weeks.
Match preview
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Swansea City head into their final game of the Championship campaign aiming to complete a positive end to the campaign, having moved well clear of the bottom of the division in recent weeks after a mixed campaign.
Following a disappointing first half to the term, the Swans turned to Luke Williams to take charge in early January, but he was unable to inspire an initial improvement as they remained on the edge of the relegation dogfight heading into the final five league games, with a pair of defeats in early April leaving them 15th on 47 points from 41 outings.
The Welsh outfit have since produced a fine upturn in form to scale the bottom half of the table, though, now heading into the weekend in a four-match unbeaten streak beginning with three straight victories as they firstly saw off Stoke City and Rotherham United on home turf before travelling to strugglers Huddersfield Town and dishing out a 4-0 beating with Jamal Lowe, Ronald, Jerry Yates and Liam Walsh on the scoresheet.
Aiming to make it four three-point hauls on the bounce for the second time this season in the Championship, Williams’s side most recently visited fifth-placed Norwich City at Carrow Road on Saturday, and while they were unable to continue their streak, they did leave with a share of the spoils from a commendable 2-2 draw as Matt Grimes levelled the scores early in the second half after Jamie Paterson had initially put them ahead.
Now sitting 13th on 57 points with no chance of cracking the top half and matching rivals Cardiff City’s points tally, Swansea City will focus on ending their season on a high with a fourth win in a five-match span on Saturday to cement 13th spot.
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Their visitors, meanwhile, travel to Wales aiming to leapfrog their hosts and take 13th spot for themselves on the final day, having similarly quashed any threat of relegation recently.
Neil Harris returned to the Millwall hot seat in mid-February as they sat just above the drop zone on 33 points from 35 matches, and he has overseen an eye-catching improvement to guarantee their safety, with the Lions having amassed 23 more points from the 12 attempts since.
Following three victories and a draw in his first four games back at The Den, the London outfit would be dragged back into the relegation dogfight by a four-match unbeaten streak between mid-March and early April, but they would bounce back once again and now sit 16th thanks to four consecutive league wins having initially seen off league leaders Leicester City and Cardiff City at The Den last month.
Harris’s men have since added back-to-back wins heading into the final day, prevailing away at Sunderland with a Dan Ballard own goal making the difference before Jake Cooper fired them to a hard-fought victory at home to Plymouth Argyle on Saturday.
With plenty of encouragement to take from their run since mid-February ahead of the new Championship season, Millwall will now bid to make it five second-tier wins on the bounce to round off the campaign when they travel to Swansea on Saturday with the chance to leapfrog their hosts.
Swansea City Championship form:
Millwall Championship form:
Team News
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Swansea City may be unchanged from their draw away at Norwich City last time out, with Kyle Naughton, Harrison Ashby, Przemyslaw Placheta, Joe Allen and Josh Ginnelly remaining sidelined by injuries.
There is competition in attack, though, with Jamal Lowe and Jerry Yates both hoping to displace Liam Cullen and lead the line, while Jamie Paterson, Oli Cooper and Ronald will continue in a supporting trio.
Behind them, Jay Fulton will again join Matt Grimes at the base of the midfield, while Harry Darling and Ben Cabango will continue their centre-back partnership.
Neil Harris will also avoid making many alterations to his Millwall side after their win over Plymouth Argyle last weekend, with defender Murray Wallace likely being their only enforced absentee through injury.
The Lions will again line up in a 4-4-2 shape, with Jake Cooper and Japhet Tanganga forming a solid defensive pairing while George Saville and Casper De Norre should both keep their places in the engine room.
With goals somewhat hard to come by this term, their line should be led by Tom Bradshaw and top scorer Zian Flemming, who has netted eight, despite competition from Kevin Nisbet and Michael Obafemi.
Swansea City possible starting lineup:
Rushworth; Key, Cabango, Darling, Tymon; Grimes, Fulton; Ronald, Cooper, Paterson; Low
Millwall possible starting lineup:
Sarkic; Leonard, Tanganga, Cooper, McNamara; Longman, Saville, De Norre, Watmore; Bradshaw, Flemming
We say: Swansea City 1-1 Millwall
Both sides will head into the final day with plenty of confidence thanks to their recent improvements, and the desire to end on a win and wrap up 13th spot, and we cannot quite pick a winner as a result, instead opting for a low-scoring draw between two in-form teams.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.