Coca-Cola Championship Matchday Thirteen: Nottingham Forest v Barnsley

Team News

Barnsley are likely to go with an unchanged line-up for tonight's clash between the two form sides of the Championship. There were no new injury or suspensions picked up in the 1-0 win at Doncaster at the weekend but manager Mark Robins could be tempted to play Anderson De Silva instead of Emil Hallfredsson, after the Brazilian impressed as a sub on Saturday. Bobby Hassell is still unavailable but should be fit for Saturday's home game with Bristol City.

Likely Line-Up:

Luke Steele

Carl Dickinson

Stephen Foster

Darren Moore

Ryan Shotton

Adam Hammill

Nathan Doyle

Hugo Colace

Emil Hallfredsson/ Anderson De Silva

Jon Macken

Iain Hume

Head to Head

Barnsley head to the City Ground looking for only their second win there in 11 visits. The Reds have taken three points away from the home of the one time European Champions just once since 1949. That came in the League One promotion season of 2005-2006 when two expertly taken goals from Marc Richards in front of the SKY cameras sealed a 2-0 win. A 2-0 win at Oakwell earlier in the season, secured with goals from Barry Conlon and Chris Shuker saw The Reds claim their first double over Forest since the 1948-1949 season. That season three years ago was the last time the two sides met until last season when Forest claimed four points from the two duels.

Back in November they won 1-0 at the City Ground- which came about when Forest were in the midst of a run of just one win in 16 games, and then in a tense match at Oakwell in April, The Reds led 1-0 through a Jamal Campbell-Ryce header. JCR then missed a penalty and Forest claimed a share of the spoils through Rob Earnshaw (who is injured for today)

Barnsley 1-1 Nottingham Forest Match Report 4/4/09

Nottingham Forest 1-0 Barnsley Match Report 29/11/08

Nottingham Forest 0-2 Barnsley Match Report 27/1/06

Barnsley 2-0 Nottingham Forest Match Report 10/9/05

Last Six Nottingham Forest v Barnsley Results:

4/4/09 Barnsley 1-1 Nottingham Forest (Championship)

29/11/08 Nottingham Forest 1-0 Barnsley (Championship)

27/1/06 Nottingham Forest 0-2 Barnsley (Championship)

10/9/05 Barnsley 2-0 Nottingham Forest (Championship)

12/1/02 Nottingham Forest 0-0 Barnsley (Division One)

18/8/01 Barnsley 2-0 Nottingham Forest (Division One)

Overall Record:

Nottingham Forest Wins: 25

Barnsley Wins: 25

Draws: 18

Nottingham Forest Goals: 100

Barnsley Goals: 92

At the City Ground:

Nottingham Forest Wins: 17

Barnsley Wins: 7

Draws: 9

Nottingham Forest Goals: 63

Barnsley Goals: 33

This Season

Today's game sees the Championship's two most inform teams come head to head. Both sides have won four drawn one and lost one of their last six league games. Forest have won their last four matches- against Plymouth, Scunthorpe, Peterborough and Newcastle which has lifted them up to seventh with just goal difference keeping them below fifth place. Their home form is inconsistent though. They have won three and lost three of their six matches at the City Ground, scoring eight and conceding eight. The last time Forest won five on the bounce, they made it up to number seven in 2006-2007. Those victories consisted of four in the league, two in the LDV Vans Trophy and one in the FA Cup.

Barnsley's 1-0 win over Doncaster on Saturday gave them three successive wins for the first time in two and a half years. Tonight they aim to make it four on the bounce- something they haven't achieved since the Paul Hart League One era in 2004-2005. In December of that season they saw off Blackpool (1-0), Colchester (2-0), Torquay (1-0) and Peterborough (4-0). They haven't achieved a quadruple of wins at this level since the Play-Off season of 1999-2000 when they defeated Walsall, Grimsby, Port Vale and West Brom in succession. They are also looking for their first back to back away wins since last October/November when ironically after defeating Doncaster 1-0 they went to Charlton and won 3-1!