Millwall will tune up for their Championship trip to Sunderland with two friendlies in the next week.

The Lions will host Brondby at The Den this Saturday afternoon before squeezing in a second game against unnamed opponents next Tuesday, boss Gary Rowett has revealed.

Rowett wanted to organise the games to ensure his first team players didn't lose match sharpness during the World Cup stoppage, with Millwall having enjoyed an impressive start to the Championship season.

Rowett's side are sixth in the table, with a game in hand on everyone else in the top 10, and they signed off for the break with an impressive 4-2 win at Preston.

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Sunderland host Millwall on Saturday, December 3, a week earlier than the full resumption of Championship fixtures, with the two teams agreeing on the date to play the fixture that was initially postponed due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

Unlike Sunderland, who have spent this week training in Dubai and play a friendly against Al-Shabab on Friday afternoon, Rowett decided to keep his players in the UK, but stressed the importance of game-time during the break.

"I think we’ve got a behind-closed-doors game on the Tuesday as well (as the Brondby game),” Rowett told NewsAtDen.

"If that all goes through and gets organised, we’ll have a couple of games where we split the group and try to get everyone a little bit of time on each game to keep that rhythm going really, that’s the challenge.

“I think all of our side are first-team players that deserve game time and a chance to maintain that little bit of fitness.

“It might be an opportunity for one or two of the younger players to join the group. How much game time they’ll get I don’t know, but we’ll try and make sure that the right players get the right amount of game time within the two games.”

For Rowett, like Mowbray, the break is also proving beneficial in helping injured players back to full fitness. Shaun Hutchinson and Ryan Leonard, who have both been out with hamstring injuries, are expected to feature in the friendlies and should be available for the Sunderland trip, though the game at the Stadium of Light is likely to come too soon for striker Benik Afobe, who is having knee trouble.

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