With six games to go, Millwall and Charlton Athletic both have everything to play for. Millwall battles for a spot in the top six and Charlton tries to stay away from the relegation zone. A preview of this South London derby!
Charlton Athletic:
Three Championship rounds have been completed in the past two weeks. Charlton Athletic has remained unbeaten and managed to lift himself out of the relegation zone with the seven earned points. Lee Boywer makes his team play sober, which proves to be a great success at The Addicks. In the three recent games, only two goals were scored (1-0, 0-1, 0-0). As a result, The Addicks are now eighteenth with a four-point lead over the dreaded relegation zone.
While visiting Cardiff City, Boywer changed his line-up in no less than seven places compared to the duels with Hull City and Queens Park Rangers. It also left the familiar 4-4-2. At The Cardiff City Stadium, The Addicks started in a 5-4-1 formation. On the club site Boywer made the following statement: “I had to make some changes. A few players were in pain and it would be stupid to take risks now with six more games to go. We will have to rotate, otherwise there will be a lot of injuries. ” The many changes did not cause any problems. Charlton kept promotion candidate Cardiff on a goalless draw. The Bluebirds were mainly on the ball, but Charlton’s defense once again held up well.
Both teams did not score in Cardiff, but it is not uncommon anyway that there are few goals scored in Charlton Athletic matches. Of the last nine games, only the teams scored in the home game with Luton Town (3-1). Despite being 18th, Charlton has almost as many goals against as promotion candidates Cardiff City and Derby County.
Millwall:
Millwall is slowly losing sight of the top six. Before the pandemic, The Lions seemed to be able to compete for a place in the play-off, but due to disappointing results, Millwall will probably also play in the Championship next year. Neil Harris’s team is eleventh and the top six has now grown to five points. Millwall won only one of the last seven league matches, totaling seven points. Harris is lucky that the competitors also drop seas with points, so that the battle is not lost early.
The confrontation with Swansea City midweek also did not yield the desired three points. With a win, competitor Swansea had been set aside and the top six hole had shrunk to two points. The Lions did not get further than a 1-1 draw. Mason Bennett made Millwall ecstatic early on, but an unfortunate own goal from keeper Bartosz Bialkowski crossed the bill after the break. Bialkowski had to watch a free kick hit the crossbar and the back of his head. The Polish goalkeeper already dropped the entire game with the own goal as a climax.
It was Millwall’s seventeenth draw this season. No other team in the Championship had to share the points more often. On the other hand, there are also only four teams that less often suffered a loss.
