Millwall manager Alex Neil insists all the pressure on Crystal Palace

Millwall manager Alex Neil said the pressure will be on Crystal Palace when the teams meet in the FA Cup fifth round on Saturday.

The south London side make the short trip to Selhurst Park looking to upset their local rivals from the Premier League as they seek a first appearance in the last eight since 2019.

Neil was appointed at the Den at the end of December and after a slow start has won four of his last seven in the league to move to within six points of the Championship play-off places.

Having won through against second-tier leaders Leeds in the last round, the manager – who led Norwich to victory over East Anglia rivals Ipswich in the play-off semi-finals in 2015 – is looking to build on what he believes is an impressive record in derby matches at former clubs.

“I think my record in derbies, for most of the clubs I have been at, has been really good, so I don’t ever avoid emotion or what it means to the fans,” said Neil.

“It should have that extra incentive for the players, so it’s just important that the players don’t get carried away. That’s really the limit I will put on it, understanding it is more important than a normal game.

“Norwich versus Ipswich was probably the biggest one I was involved in. Particularly the fact it was a semi-final of the play-offs to get to the Premier League.

“I think they (Norwich) have had a big of hoodoo over Ipswich for a number of years and they haven’t broken it yet. When I joined, Ipswich hadn’t beaten Norwich for seven or eight years. Thankfully that tradition continued and I never lost to Ipswich.”

Millwall are one of only two non-Premier League teams since 1992 to have reached the FA Cup final.

They were beaten 3-0 by Manchester United at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium in 2004 but have enjoyed impressive cup runs in the years since, making the semi-final in 2013 as well as achieving two quarter-final appearances.

Neil said that the disparity in league positions – Oliver Glasner’s Palace are currently 12th in the Premier League – means all the expectation will be on the home side on Saturday.

“I don’t think it’s a free hit, but the pressure is more on Palace than it is on us,” he said. “Hence the reason when we played Dagenham, the pressure was on us rather than them.

“There will definitely be more scrutiny on Palace in terms of expectancy than there will be on Millwall. That’s an external thing.  Internally, for us, we want to go and perform well. We have certain standards that we want to uphold. Hopefully we can go and produce.”