Barnsley play host to Coventry City in the Championship on Saturday afternoon having lost both of their opening matches in the second tier.
The visitors, who won League One last season, got off the mark with a dramatic 3-2 triumph against Queens Park Rangers last week.
Match preview
© Reuters
Heading into their EFL Cup tie with Chelsea on Wednesday night, Barnsley had excelled in that competition, suggesting that they were not far away from registering their first win in the Championship.
However, conceding six goals at Stamford Bridge will do little for the confidence of a team who have suffered league defeats against Luton Town and Reading without finding the back of the net.
Although the Tykes had their moments against a strong Blues side, Gerhard Struber will no doubt be concerned about the consequences of the setback in the long term.
The Yorkshire team have failed to score a goal after the 49th minute in any of their five matches in all competitions this season, with each of the three goals they have conceded in the league coming in the final quarter.
As far as Coventry are concerned, Mark Robins will be relieved to have gotten a win on the board after two disappointing results in succession.
Late setbacks against Bristol City and Gillingham undermined their relatively-encouraging performances, but his side showed their character in a thrilling encounter with QPR last Friday.
The Sky Blues came from behind the edge out the London side, eventually prevailing when defender Kyle McFadzean netted the decisive goal six minutes from time.
With potentially tougher matches to come against Bournemouth and Brentford, it leaves Coventry in a position where they may be content with ensuring that they avoid defeat over going all out for a second win in a row.
Barnsley Championship form: LL
Barnsley form (all competitions): WLWLL
Coventry City Championship form: LW
Coventry City form (all competitions): WLDW
Team News
© Reuters
Barnsley are handed a double boost with the returns of Michal Helik and Mads Juel Anderson after suspension.
Conor Chaplin is also expected to be among the players who return to the starting lineup after changes were made in midweek.
Having over a week to prepare for this contest is likely to result in an unchanged Coventry XI.
Liam Kelly could return to the squad after sitting out the victory over QPR with a hamstring injury.
Barnsley possible starting lineup:
Walton; Sollbauer, Helik, Andersen; Ludewig, Mowatt, Ritzmaier, Williams; Thomas; Woodrow, Chaplin
Coventry City possible starting lineup:
Marosi; Ostigard, McFadzean, Hyam; Dabo, Hamer, Shipley, Giles; Allen, Godden, O'Hare
We say: Barnsley 1-1 Coventry City
With both teams viewing each other as potential rivals during the closing weeks of the season, we expect a hard-fought tussle at Oakwell. Providing that the Tykes can mentally recover from their defeat at Chelsea, a low-scoring draw is the most likely result here.
Top betting tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting over 1.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Over 1.5:dataData Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Coventry City win with a probability of 38.19%. A win for Barnsley had a probability of 34.73% and a draw had a probability of 27.1%.
The most likely scoreline for a Coventry City win was 0-1 with a probability of 10.65%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.22%) and 0-2 (6.81%). The likeliest Barnsley win was 1-0 (10.05%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.85%). The actual scoreline of 0-0 was predicted with an 8.3% likelihood.
