Ryan Alebiosu: Blackburn Rovers vs Millwall preview, team news, betting tips, h2h

Blackburn Rovers welcome an in-form Millwall to Ewood Park on Saturday, September 12, 2026, with Super Eagles defender Ryan Alebiosu once again expected to marshal a home back-line that is missing almost every recognised forward on the books, Afrik-Foot reports.

Alebiosu, who made his Super Eagles debut at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in December, is among the few certain starters for a home side stripped of nearly every recognised forward.

Alebiosu, the Nigeria international right-back, has become one of the few names Tony Mowbray can write into his team sheet without a second thought this week. Blackburn have lost four of their last five matches in all competitions, and the club’s list of absentees now reads like the spine of a first-choice attack.

Millwall, by contrast, arrive on the back of a battling Carabao Cup exit to Newcastle United and sit ninth in the Championship, well placed for an early promotion push under Alex Neil.

Blackburn Rovers vs Millwall: form, standings and early-season context

Blackburn’s start to the season has followed an oddly familiar shape for supporters who remember Mowbray’s first spell in charge. Rovers opened with a battling 2-2 draw away at Wolverhampton Wanderers before following it up with a 2-1 home win over Middlesbrough, a start that hinted at genuine promise under the returning head coach.

Since then, the results have dried up completely, with defeats to Queens Park Rangers, Preston North End and Sheffield United either side of a goalless draw at Lincoln City.

That run leaves Blackburn 18th in the Championship table with five points from six matches, only one point clear of the relegation zone.

Home form has been a particular problem. Rovers have won just once in three matches at Ewood Park this season, beating Middlesbrough but losing to both Queens Park Rangers and Sheffield United on home soil.

Millwall’s picture looks considerably healthier. The Lions sit ninth on nine points from five games, having won three, and lost two.

Alex Neil’s side have been a story of extremes rather than consistency, following back-to-back wins over Bristol City and Norwich City with heavy defeats to Southampton and Wrexham before responding with a four-goal thrashing of Bolton Wanderers.

Away from home Millwall have won one and lost one, but their away win came at Bristol City, a side who currently sit above Millwall in the table, which suggests the travelling form is stronger than the bare record implies.

Millwall finished third last season with a club-record 83 points and reached the play-offs, so genuine promotion ambition rather than mere top-six hope is the clear aim at The Den this year.

For Blackburn, the priority is simply to stop the bleeding, find some fresh faces in attack, and turn Ewood Park back into the fortress it was during Mowbray’s first spell in charge.

Head-to-head record between Blackburn Rovers and Millwall

These two clubs have a long history stretching back almost ninety years, with Blackburn holding a healthy overall advantage of 30 wins to Millwall’s 12, along with 14 draws.

The reverse fixture this season, played at The Den on March 14, ended in a 2-1 win for Blackburn, with Millwall unable to find a way past their visitors despite home advantage.

That result capped a productive recent sequence for Rovers in this fixture, who also won 2-0 at Ewood Park in December 2025 and thrashed Millwall 4-1 at the same venue in April 2025.

Millwall’s only success across the last five meetings came at The Den in December 2024, a narrow 1-0 win, with the sides otherwise sharing a 1-1 draw at Ewood Park in March 2024. Over those five matches, Blackburn have won three, drawn one and lost only once, scoring nine goals and conceding four.

The Ewood Park record is especially striking for the visitors. Millwall have not won on any of their last ten visits to Blackburn, a run stretching all the way back to 2013.

That kind of long-range hoodoo counts for very little once the whistle goes, but it does add an extra layer of intrigue to a fixture already shaped by contrasting form and a heavy injury list on the home side.

Team news and predicted lineups for Blackburn Rovers vs Millwall

Blackburn’s injury situation has gone from concerning to severe over the past week, and it is now shaping almost every selection call Mowbray has to make.

Andri Guðjohnsen, the club’s top scorer with two goals this season, missed Tuesday’s defeat to Sheffield United with a quad problem and is a doubt for the weekend. Mathias Jørgensen and Yūki Ōhashi, two more of Rovers’ recognised attacking options, remain unavailable alongside Guðjohnsen, leaving Mowbray desperately short of specialist forwards.

Lewis Miller, Moussa Baradji, Augustus Kargbo and Scott Wharton have also been sidelined for spells this season and are expected to remain out.

With so few options up front, winger Jayden Fevrier looks set to be redeployed as an emergency striker for the second match running, a switch that has coincided with Rovers managing just three goals in their last four games.

Ryan Alebiosu, Sean McLoughlin, Yuri Ribeiro and Tom Atcheson all played the full ninety minutes against Sheffield United and should retain their places in defence.

Blackburn Rovers predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Pears; Alebiosu, Atcheson, McLoughlin, Ribeiro; Morsy, Montgomery; Morishita, Cantwell, Afolayan; Fevrier

Millwall head into the weekend with their own lengthy list of absences, though the quality remaining at Neil’s disposal is considerably deeper. Casper De Norre and Josh Coburn, both important figures for the Lions this season, are the most recent additions to the injury list.

Mark Sykes could return having missed the last two matches with concussion, but Tristan Crama, Alfie Doughty, Mathis Servais, Mihailo Ivanović and Massimo Luongo remain sidelined for the longer term.

Ryan Leonard, Lukas Jensen and Luke Cundle round out a list that has forced Neil into some reshuffling, with Filip Marschall in line to deputise in goal.

Lyndon Dykes, who scored twice in the win over Bolton, and Taïryk Arconte, who has also reached two league goals, are set to lead the line together.

Millwall predicted XI (4-4-2): Marschall; Osei-Tutu, Cooper, Taylor, Baggott; Neghli, Kelly, Metcalfe, Esse; Dykes, Lovelace

Star player showdown

With Blackburn’s attacking options so badly depleted, the more instructive individual battle this weekend sits deeper on the pitch.

McLoughlin, the towering Irish centre-back, has been Blackburn’s standout performer in the early weeks of the season and carries a rating of 7.20, the best of any Rovers player. The 29-year-old joined from Hull City in July 2025 and has quickly become a defensive fixture, a role that only grows in importance with so many attacking team-mates unavailable.

Neghli, born in the Netherlands but a youth international for Algeria, arrived at Millwall in January 2025 for what the club described as a record transfer fee. The midfielder has repaid that faith with a rating of 7.31 this season, the highest at the club, and remains the creative heartbeat of Neil’s side from a deep-lying role.

The managers: Tony Mowbray and Alex Neil

Tony Mowbray returned to Blackburn Rovers this June for a second spell in charge, having first managed the club between February 2017 and May 2022.

The 62-year-old, a boyhood Middlesbrough supporter and former captain of the club, guided Rovers out of League One at the first attempt during his first spell and later established them as a steady mid-table Championship side.

Between his two spells at Ewood Park, Mowbray managed Sunderland, Birmingham City and, briefly, a second stint at West Bromwich Albion, a period he has since described as unfinished business. He returned to management this year after successfully undergoing treatment for cancer, and his appointment was widely welcomed by Rovers supporters as a move towards stability.

Scottish head coach Alex Neil took charge of Millwall in December 2024 after more than a year away from management following his exit from Stoke City.

He inherited a Millwall side thirteenth in the table and immediately transformed their form, winning twelve of his opening twelve matches at one stage to push the Lions into play-off contention.

That form carried into last season, with Millwall finishing third on a club-record 83 points and reaching the play-offs, and Neil was rewarded with a new long-term contract.

His managerial career also includes spells at Hamilton Academical, Norwich City, Preston North End and Sunderland, with promotions earned at three different clubs.

Tactical preview: how Blackburn Rovers and Millwall could match up

Mowbray’s Blackburn have generally set up in a 4-2-3-1 shape this season, built around Sam Morsy’s experience shielding the back four.

The problem is what happens further forward, where a converted winger in Fevrier is being asked to lead the line in place of three unavailable senior strikers.

That leaves Rovers reliant on Ryōya Morishita and Todd Cantwell to create from deeper positions, both talented technicians but neither a natural focal point in the final third.

Millwall, set up in a 4-4-2 under Neil, tend to play with more directness, looking to get Dykes and Arconte in behind quickly rather than build patiently through midfield.

That approach should suit a Lions side facing a Blackburn defence that, while well organised through McLoughlin, has looked short of protection with so many changes forced further up the pitch.

Neghli’s role sitting just behind the front two will be key, giving Millwall a passing outlet capable of switching play quickly and stretching a Blackburn back-line that may be outnumbered in wide areas.

Alebiosu’s positioning at right-back will therefore matter enormously, both defensively against Millwall’s left-sided threat and as an outlet whenever Rovers do win the ball back.

Blackburn Rovers vs Millwall prediction and betting tips

Blackburn’s injury list has grown so severe this week that it is difficult to build a strong case for the home side, whatever the Ewood Park history between these two clubs suggests.

Rovers have scored just three goals in their last four matches, a run that predates even the latest fitness concerns over Guðjohnsen, and Fevrier is not a like-for-like replacement as an emergency centre-forward.

Millwall have their own selection headaches, but the quality removed from Neil’s group is spread across the squad rather than concentrated in a single position, as it is for Blackburn.

The Lions have also shown they can produce big away performances this season, winning 2-0 at Bristol City in August, and all three of their league victories have arrived without conceding a goal.

It is worth noting that both teams have found the net in five of Blackburn’s six league matches this term, so a shutout is not the only sensible reading of this fixture, and readers who fancy goals at both ends should check current both-teams-to-score pricing with their bookmaker before staking.

On balance, though, the scale of Blackburn’s attacking absences points towards a quiet afternoon in front of goal for the hosts.

Final score prediction: Blackburn Rovers vs Millwall