Southampton vs Millwall prediction 01.01.2026 | Championship

After relegation from the Premier League last season, Southampton had great expectations for the current campaign. However, after more than half of the season, the Saints are six points behind the promotion playoff zone and will have to play much better in the next few months if they want to return to the top flight of English football. Southampton struggled recently with only two points in the last four matches. In the previous game, they played 1-1 on the road against Birmingham. The teams were pretty even in most of the match, making the result a fair reflection of the tie.

Southampton failed to beat Birmingham, but the head coach, Tonda Eckert, was very satisfied. He said, "I'm happy with the performance. It's a tough ground with lots of energy. I think you could see this, especially in the first half. Also, after the goal we conceded, you just have that spell of five or ten minutes that you need to get over. That's normal. I think with the substitutions today, we found a good way into the game."

Southampton have some problems with missing players. They will be without Samuel Edozie, Mads Roerslev Rasmussen, Ross Stewart, Damion Downs, and Shea Charles on Thursday afternoon against Millwall.

The 2025/26 season could be the best for Millwall in the 21st century. The club have not featured in England's top flight since 1990, but they currently sit in the promotion playoff places and have every reason to dream. However, Millwall recently lost the momentum with four games in a row without defeat. The negative streak ended on Monday, when the Lions won 2-1 at home against Bristol City. Millwall didn't impress in that game, either, but their excellent efficiency was enough for an important victory.

Millwall's manager, Alex Neil, hailed a victory against Bristol City as one of the most important in the season. He said, "I would say there are so many things in this game I'm really happy with – to play an opponent like that with a long-ball strategy and win many first balls and many second balls exactly the way we want. I would say most of the time we controlled the game and did not play with the chaos they wanted."

William Smallbone, Derek Mazou-Sacko, Massimo Luongo, Daniel Kelly, Lukas Jensen, Casper De Norre, Luke Cundle, and Joshua Coburn are unavailable for the trip to Southampton.