Millwall imminent injury boost with 'catalyst' set to feature against Coventry City tonight

Millwall boss Alex Neil could welcome midfielder Luke Cundle back into his squad to take on Coventry City this evening as the London outfit looks for a second win over their Championship rivals this season.

The two clubs met in Carabao Cup action at the end of August with Millwall securing a 2-1 victory at The Den and progressing to the next round, where they were eventually knocked out by Crystal Palace. Cundle started that match with Massimo Luongo and Kamarl Grant on the scoreboard for the Lions.

Cundle went on to face Wrexham and Charlton Athletic but then picked up a calf issue and has been out of action since. Speaking ahead of welcoming Coventry City to The Den, Neil said that he hoped to have Cundle available once again.

Alex Neil hopes for Millwall injury boost

Speaking after the point against Swansea City, when asked about returns, he said: “You’re probably looking more at Luke. Potentially Femi [Azeez], maybe.” Neil has since doubled down on the fact that Cundle could return.

The 23-year-old is a player highly rated by Neil. Speaking after the match against Charlton Athletic, Neil said: “I think he’s been excellent this season. His best position for me is probably one up in that sort of ten pocket.

“At the moment, the difficulty I’ve got is the two lads that can play a little bit deeper are young Dan Kelly. What people don’t know about Dan as well is, he’s played two games in Scotland last week. So he’s played on Friday and played on Tuesday, and he’s had to come here again today. That was one of the key reasons why he didn’t start.

“Then I’ve got Derek [Mazuo-Sacko], who can’t speak English at the moment. He’s only been with us for, what, a week and a half. It’s a bit unfair to stick him into that type of game.

“So we’re restricted in certain areas, and that’s not an excuse. I’m trying to give you a little bit of detail as to why Luke’s playing deeper, where I do prefer him a little bit further forward. I thought when he moved in there, he was a catalyst, really, in terms of finding little pockets of space.”

Lions look for double over Coventry City

Coventry City go into tonight's clash having lost just once in all competitions this season, that coming in the fixture against Millwall. Previewing the game, Neil added: “We’ve already played Coventry. We know what they look like. I’ll get some work done on that over the next 24 to 48 hours. We’ll be prepared. We’ll be ready.

“Hopefully, we’ll be in a position where we can maybe freshen a couple of positions up as well, just to keep the energy levels high. Hopefully, there might be one or two other players that haven’t been featuring, who maybe will get themselves back involved.”

In other news, Supercomputer predicts QPR, Millwall and Charlton Athletic's final Championship finish.