Millwall boss Alex Neil sends 'pressure' warning to Crystal Palace and makes 'desperate' claim

Millwall boss Alex Neil believes the pressure is on Crystal Palace for Saturday’s London derby FA Cup fifth round clash between the two sides. It’s set to be a thrilling derby clash at Selhurst Park with a place in the quarter-finals on the line, with both teams now just two wins away from Wembley.

Palace are the obvious favourites, currently sitting just below mid-table in the Premier League, while Millwall are in the situation in the Championship, also in 12th place.

But the Lions have improved significantly over recent weeks, becoming more resolute under Neil, and they have now lost just once in their last nine games across all competitions. That will give them plenty of confidence going into this one, and anything can happen in the FA Cup, especially in a derby.

And Neil says the pressure is on Palace, telling South London News: “I don’t think it’s a free hit, but the pressure is more on Palace than it is on us,” said Neil. “Hence the reason when we played Dagenham, the pressure was on us rather than them.

“There will definitely be more scrutiny on Palace in terms of expectancy than there will be on Millwall. That’s an external thing. Internally, for us, we want to go and perform well. We have certain standards that we want to uphold. Hopefully we can go and produce.”

Speaking more broadly on the clash, the Millwall boss added: “When you’re in the Premier League, they’re operating at that level and they’re going to play it down. But I can assure you that on the day they will be desperate to win. So will we. It will be a good match. I think my record in derbies, for most of the clubs I have been at, has been really good, so I don’t ever avoid emotion or what it means to the fans.

“It should have that extra incentive for the players, so it’s just important that the players don’t get carried away. That’s really the limit I will put on it – understanding it is more important than a normal game. Norwich versus Ipswich was probably the biggest one I was involved in. Particularly the fact it was a semi-final of the play-offs to get to the Premier League. I played Blackburn when I was at Preston – they were big games as well.

“I think they (Norwich) have had a big of hoodoo over Ipswich for a number of years and they haven’t broken it yet. When I joined, Ipswich hadn’t beaten Norwich for seven or eight years. Thankfully that tradition continued and I never lost to Ipswich. We drew 1-1 at their place and then beat them at our place. We got to the final and knocked them out, which would have been a nice feeling for the fans.”

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