Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna believes Millwall will have promotion aspirations this season, stressing that his side will need to match their intensity at The Den this afternoon (1pm).
The Blues, currently third in the Championship, travel to South London for a crunch clash on Boxing Day against a side who sit just three places and two points behind them in the table.
The Lions have suffered a little blip off the back of a three-match winning streak, which included a 3-2 victory against Southampton, but McKenna is well aware of their strengths and expects them to put up a good fight when they come up against Town.
"They are clearly a good team, very-well managed and a tough opponent in many ways, especially at home," he said.
"They have been at the top end of the table, pretty much since the start of the season, for good reason.
"I'm sure they will have their ambitions this year, and after a disappointing result last time out [2-0 defeat at Blackburn Rovers], they will want to come out firing on Boxing Day.
"We need to be ready for that and we need to match that. We need to bring the best of ourselves."
McKenna, of course, has good memories of the last time Ipswich played away at Millwall back in February 2024.
His side dropped off around the end of January, with injuries hurting their momentum. However, they eased to a 4-0 victory in Bermondsey to get back on track, with a run of nine wins in 10 games to follow on the way to promotion.
"I remember the game pretty well," McKenna recalled. "It was a difficult start, like you can often have in games, difficult periods in the first 15 minutes. We hardly made a pass and spent a lot of time defending set plays in our box.
"We came through that spell and got the first goal, then kicked on well. You have to be able to do these things.
"It's a different Millwall team now, a Millwall team having a really strong season. That was a Millwall team that was struggling at the time. In terms of tough places to go on Boxing Day, it's up there.
"We have to be ready for the challenge ahead."
Share