(Credit: Imago)

Jacob Raw

Tue 12 May 2026 9:00, UK

West Ham United‘s main silver lining for relegation could be the return of the long-awaited showdown between the Hammers and Millwall.

The Irons are currently occupying 18th in the Premier League, the final relegation spot with just two games left of the season.

Nuno Espirito Santo‘s side are in a head-on battle with Tottenham to avoid the drop, as West Ham watched their relegation rivals drop points to Leeds United on Monday.

It was a night of rare joy this season for the Hammers, as they also got to witness Millwall fall short in their hopes of achieving promotion after getting beaten 2-0 by Hull City in the Championship’s play-offs.

West Ham are favourites for Premier League relegation now, but the silver lining could be finally playing the Lions after all these years.

West Ham haven’t played Millwall in over 14 years

West Ham feared Millwall would leapfrog them as the Lions were close to gaining automatic promotion from the Championship.

Things went down to the final day of the season earlier this month on 2 May, as Millwall needed to win and hope Ipswich Town dropped points, but the latter didn’t happen.

West Ham’s last game against Millwall came on 4 February, 2012, which was over 14 years ago, as the Irons prevailed 2-1 winners in the Championship fixture.

Since then, the Hammers have been promoted, won a European trophy, look likely to get relegated, all while Millwall have done, well, nothing.

Perhaps it’s a fixture that Millwall fans will care about more, as they’ve not had much to shout about in around 25 years.

However, getting comfortable with the idea of the Championship isn’t a bad idea, and you need to take every positive with what could soon come.

A title-winning season could be on the horizon, and it would be made even better with wins against their fierce London rivals.

It’s hard to process, but relegation could be needed; here’s why

Many big sides have dropped out of the Premier League in recent years, but West Ham would surely be the biggest to do so in a long time.

The likes of Sunderland, Newcastle, and even Aston Villa have suffered relegation from the top-flight in the past decade or so, but have all come back to become European hopefuls, and in some cases, trophy winners.

West Ham’s relegation could force David Sullivan to sell up, but if not, the owner will have to have a major clearout.

• The last time Millwall beat West Ham was in 2004
• There has only ever been 26 games between the London rivals in history

Some stars will stay, lots will go, but it will prove a chance for Nuno or whoever is in charge to bring through youth prospects properly in the Championship.

It’s hypothetical, but by the time the Hammers could make it back to the promised land, which you’d fully expect to take just the one season, things could look very differently.

Sometimes relegation is needed to fire a club back up on and off the field, and though it’s difficult to process right now, it may be what is best for the Irons.