Millwall V Aston Villa at The Den - Match Preview




Lions tame up front

Millwall are short in attack for the visit of Aston Villa in the FA Cup fourth round.

On-loan Derby forward Nathan Tyson suffered an ankle injury on his debut against Burnley last weekend and will be out for a month, while last season's top scorer Darius Henderson is in talks over a move to Nottingham Forest.

Martyn Woolford is cup-tied but fellow winger Liam Feeney is fit after a hamstring injury and will be added to the squad.

Former Villa centre-half Shane Lowry misses out against his old club through suspension and full-back Scott Malone is still sidelined with a back injury.

Skipper Paul Robinson is to see a specialist after suffering a setback in his recovery from a groin problem. M

Aston Villa midfielder Ashley Westwood and striker Jordan Bowery will return to the squad.

Westwood and Bowery were cup-tied for the midweek Capital One Cup semi-final setback against Bradford at Villa Park after playing in the competition for Crewe and Chesterfield respectively.

But defender Nathan Baker is again ruled out with a hamstring injury and it is too soon for centre-back Richard Dunne to be considered after recovering from his groin injury.

Lambert admits he does not have the option to rest many players against Millwall, if he had wanted to go down that path, but in any case he is determined to pay full respect to the FA Cup.

He said: "The lads will need to go again and again for me, and that's a big thing.

"We cannot rest four, five or six players. You can't do it and so you have to go with the current group and hope they stay injury-free.

"But in any case you have a duty to take the competition seriously because people come and watch it. I don't think you could take it lightly.

"You can't go into it thinking, `we'll just get knocked out of this and concentrate on the league'.

"It's not my way. You have to try to win as many games as you can.

"It will be a great atmosphere at Millwall and we will have a lot of fans there. We have a duty to those who come and watch."

Lambert is still striving to add to his squad before the transfer window closes but said: "Whatever happens next week will happen.

"If we can't get anybody in then there's no point me dwelling on it or worrying about it. You just go with the lads who are here.

"Can I be sure I will get people in? No. You can only play with the hand you've got, and if that's the case I will go with it."


Source: PA

Source: PA