Stoke City welcome Millwall to the Bet365 Stadium this Saturday in a clash of teams floating just above the relegation zone. Both teams need a win desperately to increase the gap between themselves and the relegation zone.
Stoke currently sit 19th in the Championship after 22 games. The Potters have six wins, five draws and 11 losses, leaving them on 23 points, a precarious three points above the relegation zone.
In their last five games in all competitions, Stoke have two draws and three losses.
The first loss was a shock loss to relegation candidates QPR. A Lydon Dykes penalty opened the scoring, but Ryan Mmaee equalised just before halftime. Despite the red card to Enda Stevens early in the second half, Wouter Burger put Stoke ahead. However, another goal from Dykes, an own goal from Ben Pearson and a late goal from Chris Willock gave QPR the 4 - 2 win. Another loss came next time out against Plymouth Argyle. Tyrese Campbell put Stoke ahead, but goals from Mustapha Bundu and Adam Randell gave Plymouth the 2 - 1 win.
Anthony Musaba left it late and scored the only goal of the game in the 91st minute to give Sheffield Wednesday the 1 - 0 win over Stoke. A penalty from Daniel Johnson in the 70th minute put Stoke in the lead, but in the last minute of the game Harry Darling scored for Swansea as the game finished 1 - 1.
The last time out for Stoke was against West Brom. Lyden Gooch opened the scoring in the 12th minute, but a goal from Brandon Thomas-Asante meant another game ended in a 1 - 1 draw for Stoke.
Milwall sit just one spot below Stoke in 20th. In 22 games, Millwall have five wins, seven draws and ten losses which leaves them on 22 points, an even closer two points to the last spot in the relegation zone.
In their last five games in all competitions, Millwall have two draws and three losses.
Conor Chaplin, Massimo Luongo and Nathan Broadhead gave Ipswich the dominant 3 - 0 lead at halftime. Millwall were able to get on the scoresheet through Kevin Nisbet, but it wasn’t enough to kickstart a comeback, as Ipswich won 3 - 1. Another goal from Nisbet gave Millwall the lead just before halftime against Sunderland. However, a penalty from Jack Clarke in the second half, meant the game ended in a 1 - 1 draw.
Dimitrios Goutas scored the only goal of the game in the 78th minute for Cardiff in a 1 - 0 win where Millwall only managed three shots on target. Tom Bradshaw put Millwall into the lead in the first ten minutes, a lead Millwall would hold until halftime. However, goals from Jannik Vestergaard, Patson Daka and Ricardo Pereira gave Leicester the 3 - 2 win, with Nisbet’s 93rd minute goal unable to make enough impact.
The most recent outing for Millwall was against Huddersfield. Millwall once again took the lead, this time through Brooke Norton-Cuffy but a 97th minute penalty from Delano Burgzorg grabbed a 1 - 1 draw for Huddersfield.
Stoke and Millwall have met 60 times throughout their histories, with the first meeting coming back in 1928. The two sides are barely separated, with Stoke having 23 wins and Millwall having 22 wins, the other 15 games ending in a draw.