Barnsley vs Swansea City Match Preview
Match: Barnsley vs Swansea City
Venue: Oakwell Stadium
Date: Wednesday 24th November – 7.45pm KO
Competition: EFL Sky Bet Championship
Swansea City travel to South Yorkshire this Wednesday evening as they face 23rd place Barnsley in the Championship, kicking off at 7:45pm. The Swans sit 12th place at the moment with 24 points, 13 points ahead of Barnsley who – after just 2 wins so far – have earned just 11.
Form Guide
Swansea’s form hasn’t been all that smooth throughout the season, coming into this game off of a 1-1 draw to Blackpool. Before that, they got pumped 4-0 away to Bournemouth – a tough result against the title contenders. There is hope Swansea can pick up 3 points against Barnsley as Russell Martin will look to begin a surge up the table.
Barnsley haven’t been the side they were last season, and have struggled to pick up points this season. With just 2 wins in their 18 games played, a matchup against Swansea isn’t ideal. Having only beaten Coventry at the start of the season 1-0 and Derby 2-1 as of the start of November, Markus Schopp will need to look at picking a squad he can trust.
Head to Head
Barnsley haven’t beaten Swansea in over a decade – and their last win was in a League One play-off back in May 2006. Since then, Swansea have picked up 8 wins against The Tykes, with the remaining games seeing the points shared.
The two sides last met in an exciting two leg tie in the Championship play-offs earlier this year that saw Swansea win 2-1 on aggregate. Fans were impressed by Barnsley’s form in the latter half of that season as they surged into the top 6.
Players to watch
Joel Piroe of Swansea has been on fire lately, and has picked up 10 goals, 3 assists in just 17 games. He carries the best shot accuracy % in the league, at 72% – and he will be the key man to look out for.
Referee
David Webb will take charge of the fixture in Yorkshire.
Fan Prediction
I think it would be a stretch to predict anything but a Swansea win – and I think they can capitalise on Barnsley’s poor run of form. With Joel Piroe scoring for fun – I wouldn’t be surprised with a 3-0 win.
