The Championship weekend begins at Oakwell on Friday night where the TV cameras make their way up to the Yorkshire venue for the clash between struggling Barnsley and flattering to deceive a little Bristol City to kick off another round of matches.
We are careering towards the next international break so both sides will be looking for the points here to strengthen their position in the overall standings ahead of the enforced two week pause later in the month.
Barnsley
It has not been the start to the season that Barnsley would have wanted after working so hard to get promoted last term. A number of strange decisions have been made since that elevation was confirmed and they are paying the price for that. A number of key players were sold in the summer and not really replaced with the equivalent quality. That inevitably led to a tough start and amazingly Daniel Stendel paid the price for that.
Barnsley won their opening match this season but they haven’t won any of the 12 since then although to their credit they have drawn three of their last five so they are offering up more of a competitive edge. The big problem has been their defence but when their goalkeeper and two best defenders were sold in the summer that is no surprise. They need to stop leaking so many if they are to stay up though.
Bristol City
Bristol City lost their opening match this season to Leeds United then went another 10 games before they lost again but they have only won two of their last seven matches and are just starting to struggle to get positive results which is less than ideal for them. They could do with a season settler here and if they can pick up the win they will go level with West Brom at the top of the table overnight, which highlights that despite their sticky run they are not far away.
Goals have become a bit of an issue for the Robins. They are struggling for firepower up front, which is a surprise because they have a number of creative options in their midfield. One clean sheet in their last six outings could be more of a concern and is one of the reasons why their results have dipped a little. All eyes will be on them here to see if results have affected confidence or if they are able to attack the match.
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Team News
Barnsley will welcome a couple of key men back for this match in the form of goalkeeper Samuel Radlinger and former Leeds defender Aapo Hulme, which they hope will give them a boost at the back.
Bristol City remain without striker Famara Diedhiou as he continues his three-match suspension for a red card at Charlton. Rodri could start up front while key defender Tomas Kalas could come into the squad.
Betting
I’m expecting to see some goals in this match. I saw Bristol City a couple of weeks ago and they didn’t look that tight at the back and Wigan went to Ashton Gate and scored twice against them last week. Barnsley also looked wide open at the back when I saw them and a look at their results since then suggest nothing has changed in that regard.
Both sides have good creativity in the centre of the park and have goals in their side and you would think there is no reason why both won’t strive to get the three points here, so I can see this one being a little more open than we would normally expect, to the tune of the strikers who will be wanting to fill their boots. I’ll take over 2.75 in this one.
Tips
WON – Back Over 2.75 goals for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with BetVictor
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