Stoke City v Millwall: play-off push meets mid-table focus | OneFootball

Stoke City host Millwall in the Championship on Tuesday, 21 April 2026 in Stoke-on-Trent, with the visitors looking to cement a promotion play-off place and the hosts aiming to steady a mid-table finish.

Millwall won the reverse fixture 2-0 in October and arrive third. Stoke City sit 17th and have work to do to round off the season cleanly.

Form points to contrasting momentum. Stoke City have one win in five, drawing with Blackburn before defeats at Derby and Wrexham. The Lions are unbeaten in three of their last four, including victory over QPR after draws with West Brom and Ipswich.

Both sides list several absentees. Stoke City's unavailable group includes Steven Nzonzi, Ben Gibson, Aaron Cresswell, Ben Wilmot, Maksym Talovierov, Viktor Johansson, Tomas Rigo, Junior Tchamadeu and Bosun Lawal. For the Lions, Massimo Luongo, Joe Bryan, Lukas Jensen, Alfie Doughty, Billy Mitchell and Daniel Kelly are out.

Tactically, Stoke City tend to keep the ball, averaging 52% possession and 79.00% pass accuracy this season, and could lean on Sorba Thomas, who has 10 league goals and 10 assists. The Lions have 17 clean sheets, win plenty in the air and cross frequently, with 680 deliveries at 22.94% accuracy. That supply could target Mihailo Ivanović, joint 28th on the league scorers list with nine goals, while Femi Azeez has seven assists.

The Lions, third and in the play-off places, would strengthen that platform with a win. Stoke City, in 17th, could climb towards a calmer mid-table finish with points here.