Millwall boss Gary Rowett has provided an injury update on three of his first-team players ahead of his side’s trip to Luton Town in the Championship tonight.
Millwall head to Kenilworth Road on the back of some hugely improved form. The Lions haven’t lost in eight Championship fixtures now, having won three of their last four.
It leaves them in 11th-place of the table to face an indifferent Luton Town who sit in 16th-place, who’ve also won just one of their last seven in all competitions.
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One player who’ll be missing for Millwall tonight though is Jake Cooper – the defender dislocated his shoulder for a second time this season v Birmingham City earlier in the month. Speaking to NewsAtDen, Rowett gave this update on the 26-year-old:
“Coops is going to see the specialist [Monday] so hopefully we’ll have a bit more information. My expectation is that he’ll need an operation and anything other than that is going to be a short-term bonus.
“But long term he’s going to need an operation anyway regardless of what the outcome is [after seeing the specialist].
“He feels a bit better though that doesn’t mean an awful lot at the minute. He’ll be out for [Luton] and like previously when it settles down and by a miracle we get news he could carry on for a period, then great.
“I don’t anticipate that to be the case after the second one. I have seen players do it three or four times in a season. But that’s usually the same injury, popping out the same way. This is a different injury.
“That will probably lead to a different prognosis.”
Cooper’s absence will be a huge blow for Rowett going into the business end of the season, and he’ll be without another two first-team players tonight in Maikel Kieftenbeld and Connor Mahoney.
Kieftenbeld has missed the last three outings for Millwall having linked up with the club last month, whilst Mahoney is a more long-term absentee with a quadricep injury.
“Both are very unlikely for Luton and for Saturday,” Rowett told NewsAtDen.
It’s another hugely important game for Millwall as they bid for an unlikely top-six finish. Rowett has turned his season around and eased what was some growing pressure on his head, putting together a good run of form to find his side just seven points off the top-six.