Millwall v West Ham: Dockers Derby returns after 14 years for 100th meeting
Fourteen years of waiting ends at lunchtime on Saturday.
Millwall host West Ham United at The Den at 12:30 BST on 19 September in the Sky Bet Championship, England's second tier. It will be the 100th competitive meeting between the clubs, and their first since February 2012, according to BBC Sport.
The home end is gone. Millwall say The Den is sold out for the visit of West Ham. The away end is gone too, with West Ham confirming tickets sold out to Bondholders, Away Scheme Members and Season Ticket Holders with 36 or more loyalty points.
West Ham arrive top of the Championship. Nuno Espirito Santo's side thrashed Wrexham 6-0 in their last league game before the derby. They lost 3-2 to Fulham in the Carabao Cup, the early-season knockout competition, in midweek.
Millwall arrive stretched. Alex Neil's team drew 2-2 with Middlesbrough on Tuesday after leading 2-0. They had 14 players unavailable through injury ahead of the derby, BBC Sport reported.
The rivalry is known as the Dockers Derby, a nod to the shipbuilding history shared by both areas of east and south-east London. The clubs have not met competitively for 14 years, a gap noted by The Guardian. That history explains the noise around this one. Two sets of supporters who grew up on stories of this fixture finally get to make a new one.
What makes this stand out is the contrast. West Ham, newly down from the Premier League and leading the league, against a Millwall squad digging deep for fit bodies. Form points one way. A full house for a derby that has waited 14 years rarely follows the script.
