Millwall boss Harris chasing a hat-trick of high-profile Championship scalps at The Den

Neil Harris is used to hat-tricks as Millwall’s all-time record goalscorer – but he has a different kind of treble in his sights tomorrow.

If the Lions can defeat Championship pacesetters Sunderland then they will have beaten three of the current top four in their most recent outings at The Den.

Millwall were structurally excellent in 1-0 victories over Burnley and Leeds in SE16 while  the 1-1 draw at Stoke City before the international break stretched their unbeaten run to seven league matches.

Sunderland are joint second for most away points in the division with (14), only behind West Bromwich Albion (15).

Harris told the South London Press: “We know Sunderland travel well, have attacking threat and they are top of the league for a reason – but we don’t fear anybody at The Den.

“We have just turned over Leeds and Burnley relatively comfortably and we are looking to do the same against another high-flying team.”

Sunderland have sold out their 3,000 away allocation with The Den set to be virtually at capacity.

Millwall have banked 13 points from a possible last 15 that were available.

“It’s a brilliant game for the football club,” said Harris. “People will rightly be excited and we’ll fill out the stadium. Sunderland fans will travel in numbers, like they always do to support their team – they are enjoying watching them.

“Our fanbase are loving it at the moment because we are flying high – we are developing, progressing and winning games.

“We have got some really good players to watch. It should be a cracking atmosphere.

“We know the challenge. We’ve seen a lot of Sunderland over the last 10 days and we know what we face. But we also know what a tough opponent we are for anybody at the moment.

“We have shown that against Leeds and Burnley. We have shown it at West Brom and Stoke. We showed it at Swansea. They are all teams in the top half of the division that are on good runs and we’ve managed to more than match them – we were better than the majority of them.

“Our challenge is making sure we replicate our form, our culture and performances – individually and collectively – from the last seven games into the next block of fixtures as well.”

Former Lorient boss Regis Le Bris has hit the ground running at Sunderland since being appointed in June on a three-year contract.

“You get 15 games into a season and you pretty much deserve to be where you are in the league,” said Harris.

“Yes, I’ve talked before that we could be slightly higher – the same with Coventry, even more so than us in that sense.

“Do Sunderland deserve to be top on expected stats? No. But they have produced consistency over a period of time to win nine games. They have been difficult to beat and have a solid backline.

“Then it is what you do in possession of the football and what Sunderland have done is be well-drilled but also had some very good individual performances from players. That is what has won them the games.

“We’ve had some really strong individual performances at times – especially from Romain Esse and Duncan Watmore – but we have been a really consistent team as a group for the last 13 fixtures – which has brought us success.”

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