The EFL makes official Millwall v West Brom decision

Millwall and West Brom will both look to bounce back from midweek defeat when the two sides meet in Championship action at The Den on Saturday afternoon.

The Lions had been enjoying a strong run of form under Alex Neil since the turn of the year. The London outfit had beaten Luton Town, Portsmouth, QPR and Leeds United in four back-to-back outings but had the wind taken out of their sails against Plymouth Argyle on Wednesday night.

The second tier strugglers put five past Millwall at Home Park, an 80th minute Joe Bryan consolation not doing much to make the 5-1 scoreline look any less painful. Meanwhile, West Brom have blown hot and cold since the arrival of Tony Mowbray, enduring a 2-0 defeat at Ewood Park against Blackburn Rovers on Wednesday.

EFL confirms officials for Millwall v West Brom

The EFL has confirmed who the officials will be for Millwall v Blackburn Rovers on Saturday. James Bell will referee the match at The Den.

Bell has taken charge of 22 matches so far this season, 16 in the Championship, four in League Two and two in the Carabao Cup. His last action was Bristol City's 2-0 win over Stoke City on Wednesday night.

Bell has not refereed a Millwall match this season and has only been in charge of one Lions game during his career. That came last March and was the same fixture as this weekend.

Millwall and West Brom drew 1-1 in that match with the Baggies awarded a penalty by Bell, which was scored by John Swift to salvage a point. The spot kick was awarded after Joe Bryan was deemed to have fouled Grady Diangana.

‘Not idea’: Neil Harris on James Bell

Former Millwall manager Neil Harris didn't take issue with that penalty being awarded but was critical of the referee's general performance. After the match, he said: “The referee had three decisions to make in the penalty boxes. I’m not sure the second half one with Duncan is a foul – in the Premier League it would be. With VAR, the contact is with the player before the ball. In the Championship we don’t get them. We don’t get them anyway at Millwall!

“The other two, it is a foul – Joe does commit the foul. He just mistimes his tackle and, fair play, it is good feet by the attacker. But then he misses the penalty in the first half. We put the ball in the box and the player’s hand is at head height and it is handball.

“He probably got two right and one wrong. Not ideal but it is not on the referee. Joe came straight in and apologised – he mistimed a tackle. He is unfortunate to do that. He didn’t do it on purpose. But then lads have come in and said: ‘I could’ve scored – we could’ve been out of sight’."

Ian Cooper and Darren Williams are the assistant referees this weekend. Jacob Miles is the fourth official at The Den.

In other news, Millwall and QPR are set to face a Derby County side with a new manager this month after a head-turning appointment.