Millwall 2-2 West Ham: two goals up, and then ten men

Millwall 2-2 West Ham United was two different matches with half time in the middle of them. Millwall led inside sixteen minutes through Caleb Taylor and went two up in the third minute of first-half stoppage time through Camiel Neghli. West Ham, who had won their previous four, got one back through Mohamadou Kante on seventy-four and drew level through Konstantinos Mavropanos on eighty. Nine minutes later Kante was sent off.

West Ham had 66.5% of the ball and eleven corners to Millwall’s three. Millwall had nineteen shots to West Ham’s fifteen and seven on target to six. In a London derby at The Den watched by 19,639, Paul Tierney showed five yellow cards and one red, and four of the yellows went to the visitors.

Taylor and Neghli put Millwall two up

The first arrived on sixteen minutes: Taylor, left-footed from the right side of the six-yard box, into the bottom right corner. It was the kind of goal The Den was built for, and it came against a side that had conceded four goals in its previous four matches combined.

The second came at the worst possible moment for the visitors. In the third minute of first-half stoppage time, Lyndon Dykes set up Neghli, who finished right-footed from very close range into the bottom right corner. Morato had already been booked on forty minutes for a bad foul. West Ham went in two down having had two thirds of the ball.

Kante from outside the box, Mavropanos with his head

The response took most of the second half to arrive. On seventy-four minutes Pablo found Kante, who hit a right-footed shot from outside the box past the goalkeeper. Six minutes later Manor Solomon crossed and Mavropanos headed the equaliser from very close range. From 2-0 down with sixteen minutes left to 2-2 with ten, away from home, in a derby.

And then it fell apart in a different way. Pablo was booked on eighty-three, Max Kilman on eighty-six for a bad foul, and on eighty-nine Kante, who had scored the goal that started the comeback, was shown a straight red card. Mavropanos and Millwall’s Kyrell Lisbie were both booked in the fifth minute of stoppage time.

• Caleb Taylor (Millwall), 16 minutes: left-footed, from the right side of the six-yard box
• Camiel Neghli (Millwall), 45+3 minutes: right-footed from very close range, assisted by Lyndon Dykes
• Mohamadou Kante (West Ham United), 74 minutes: right-footed from outside the box, assisted by Pablo
• Konstantinos Mavropanos (West Ham United), 80 minutes: header, assisted by Manor Solomon
• Mohamadou Kante (West Ham United), 89 minutes: sent off
• Shots: Millwall 19 (7 on target), West Ham 15 (6 on target)
• Possession: Millwall 33.5%, West Ham 66.5%
• Corners: Millwall 3, West Ham 11

The end of a four-match run

West Ham came to south London having won four in a row and scored sixteen goals doing it: 4-2 against Wolverhampton Wanderers, 3-0 against Derby County, 3-2 at Bolton Wanderers and 6-0 against Wrexham. Before that run they had drawn 2-2 at Burnley, lost 2-1 at home to Charlton Athletic and drawn 1-1 at Watford.

The point keeps them second on fifteen from eight, two behind Swansea City, and they remain the division’s leading scorers with twenty-two goals. They have also conceded eleven, nearly twice as many as Swansea City above them, and this was their second 2-2 draw of the season. Both of them came away from home, the first at Burnley on the opening weekend.

The sending-off is the part that will cost them beyond Saturday. Kante is the player who scored the goal that made the comeback possible and he will miss what comes next, and West Ham finished the afternoon with four bookings alongside it.

Millwall keep playing in extremes

Millwall have eleven points from eight and a goal difference of exactly zero: fifteen scored, fifteen conceded. Very little about their season has been close. They won 2-0 at Bristol City and beat Norwich City 3-0, then lost 5-1 at Southampton and 3-0 at home to Wrexham, then beat Bolton Wanderers 4-0, then lost 3-1 at Blackburn Rovers. Their last two, a 2-2 at Middlesbrough and this one, are the first matches all season they have finished level.

Not one of their eight matches has been decided by a single goal. Four of them were decided by three or more. For a side sitting twelfth with an even goal difference, that is a strange way to arrive there, and it is why a 2-2 against the best attack in the division reads as neither a surprise nor a turning point.

The passing tells the rest. Millwall completed 132 passes from 213, West Ham 335 from 424. Millwall had a third of the ball and four more shots than the side that had two thirds of it, which is roughly how they have played every week.

Simulate the rest of the Championship season

Eight matches in, Swansea lead, West Ham have scored the most and Millwall have a goal difference of zero from a season of blowouts. On the Championship simulator you can take the real table forward from here and find out who goes up, who reaches the play-offs and who does not.

• Play the remaining 38 rounds from the real table and the real fixture list
• Run any fixture through the AI match simulator, in tactical view or in the physics arena
• Open the line-up builder for both clubs before you kick off a simulation
• Turn an arena simulation into a vertical video ready to share

"West Ham had two thirds of the ball, eleven corners and four fewer shots. They came back from two down and finished with ten men."