The Lions’ play-off push has begun well, picking up three wins and two draws from six games, with their only defeat of the season coming against fellow play-off contenders Swansea City.

However, it has been confirmed that Gary Rowett will not be in the dugout for Saturday’s game after testing positive for COVID-19 on Friday, meaning assistant manager, Adam Barrett, will lead the team throughout Rowett's absence.

Barnsley are again finding themselves being dragged into a relegation dogfight. They are still in search of their first win of the campaign after drawing three games and losing three from their opening six league games.

The newly appointed Valérien Ismaël will be watching his new side from the stands before fully taking charge of Barnsley next week. The Reds were without a manager after Gerhard Struber departed the club to take over the role as the head coach of New York Red Bulls, with Adam Murray taking the role of caretaker.

Barnsley may be encouraged with their record against Millwall, winning eight of their previous 12 meetings.

Team news

Other than long-term absentees Billy Mitchell and Troy Parrott, who have missed all the Lions’ games this season, Millwall are reported to have a clean bill of health going into Saturday’s clash.

The same can be said for Barnsley, with only Ben Williams missing for the Tykes going into the game against Millwall.

Predicted lineups

Millwall (4-2-3-1): Bialkowski; Romeo, Hutchinson, Cooper, Malone; Leonard, Wood; J. Wallace, Bennett, Mahoney; Bennett.

Barnsley (4-3-1-2): Walton; Williams, Andersen, Helik, Odour; Palmer, Kane, Mowatt; Thomas; Chaplin, Woodrow.

Form guide

Millwall come into this game in good form, having only lost one of their six league games this season. They began the season with a goalless draw with Stoke City before beating Rotherham United by a single goal. The Lions then held Brentford to a 1-1 draw before losing 2-1 against Swansea, however, they then recorded back-to-back victories over Wycombe Wanderers and Luton Town, winning 2-1 and 2-0 respectively.

After their “great escape” last season, Barnsley began the season with back-to-back losses against Luton and Reading before holding Coventry City to a goalless draw at Oakwell. Another loss followed, losing 2-1 to Middlesborough. The Tykes come into this fixture on the back of two 2-2 draws against Bristol City and Stoke, with the latter’s result lifting them out of the bottom three.

Ones to watch

Millwall – Kenneth Zohore

Kenneth Zohore played the remaining 10 minutes of Millwall’s victory over Luton on Tuesday night after arriving on loan from Cardiff City on deadline day.

Zohore’s most productive season came in the 2016/17 season where he notched 12 goals and registered five assists for the Bluebirds.

Barnsley – Mads Andersen

Arguably Barnsley’s most consistent performer of last season, Mads Andersen’s importance in the backline will be crucial to stopping Millwall’s forward line on Saturday.

The Danish defender made an average 1.3 tackles per game last season, and he will need to make sure to maintain these defensive numbers if Barnsley are to have a chance of shutting out Millwall.

Last time they met

The last time these two sides met at the Den saw Barnsley come away with a 2-1 victory to lift themselves off the foot of the Championship in December 2019.

Connor Chaplin opened the scoring in the 39th minute, striking a superb first-time finish from a low cross by Jacob Brown.

Millwall looked like that had stolen a point with an 85th-minute header from Matt Smith, however, Barnsley struck late with Patrick Schmidt heading home in the fourth minute of added time to claim an important three points.

The reverse of that fixture saw both teams play out a goalless draw at Oakwell.

What the managers have said

Rowett, who will miss the fixture after testing positive for COVID-19, has challenged his side to continue their form into Saturday's fixture against Barnsley.

"Every team is trying to be as good as they can be, and Barnsley will be no different," said Rowett, talking to the official Millwall website.

"They've been playing a similar way recently, I don't know what they'll be playing [on Wednesday night], but they've been playing in a 5-2-1-2 formation.

"Every game is different, though, and every team I pick has to be the right one. [On Tuesday, however], I thought we got it tactically spot on and the players were fantastic once again."

Murray, who will remain in charge for this fixture despite the appointment of Ismaël, believes there isn’t any pressure on his side going into the weekend.

"There's no pressure on me or the players," Murray told the official Barnsley website.

"We go out there with a game plan and try to play our football. I think we've put in some good performances and not got rewarded so far.

"They [the players] were great Saturday, great on Wednesday and I'll only look to make changes based on energy. We've got a lot of games to play in such a short timeframe.

"But I'm encouraged. It's a good group of players we have, and I know we can compete with anyone."

Where to watch

The only way to view this clash live on Saturday 24 October is by purchasing an 'iFollow' match pass on either of the club’s website.

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