Coca-Cola Championship Matchday Thirty-Seven: Barnsley v Crystal Palace

Team News

Under fire Barnsley boss Simon Davey has promised changes for a game that could make or break his tenure as manager. He is boosted by the returns of captain Stephen Foster and midfielder Anderson De Silva. Foster returns after a two match suspension whilst Anderson is back after attending his mother's funeral. Diego Leon has trained but will not be risked. Martin Devaney and Luke Steele are pushing for starts.

Likely Line-Up:

Heinz Muller

Rob Kozluk

Stephen Foster

Darren Moore

Bobby Hassell

Adam Hammill

Anderson De Silva

Hugo Colace

Jamal Campbell-Ryce

Daniel Bogdanovic

Michael Mifsud

Barnsley have a good home record against tomorrow's opponents Crystal Palace and have won almost 50% of the meetings at Oakwell. Palace have taken just two wins from their last eight visits but they are unbeaten in the last three meetings home or away. Last season The Reds could only manage a miserable 0-0 draw at Oakwell before being beaten 2-0 at Selhurst Park and in the corresponding fixture this season, Palace romped to a 3-0 win live on SKY in what may go down as the worst Barnsley performance in many a year.

The best result in recent times arrived in 2006-2007 as a brace from Daniel Nardiello sealed a third successive win and virtually guaranteed Championship survival and gave Nardiello his fourth goal in those three games.

Crystal Palace 3-0 Barnsley Match Report 18/10/08

Barnsley 0-0 Crystal Palace Match Report 8/12/07

Barnsley 2-0 Crystal Palace Match Report 21/4/07

Last six Barnsley v Crystal Palace Results:

18/10/08 Crystal Palace 3-0 Barnsley (Championship)

15/3/08 Crystal Palace 2-0 Barnsley (Championship)

8/12/07 Barnsley 0-0 Crystal Palace (Championship)

21/4/07 Barnsley 2-0 Crystal Palace (Championship)

18/11/06 Crystal Palace 2-0 Barnsley (Championship)

26/2/02 Barnsley 1-4 Crystal Palace (Division One)

Overall Record:

Barnsley Wins: 23

Crystal Palace Wins: 20

Draws: 8

Barnsley Goals: 69

Crystal Palace Goals: 66

At Oakwell:

Barnsley Wins: 12

Crystal Palace Wins: 8

Draws: 5

Barnsley Goals: 43

Crystal Palace Goals: 35

Crystal Palace have a had a very disappointing season by their standards as an expected Play-Off push has not materialised. Last season Warnock took Palace from 19^th in October to the Play-Off Semi-Finals where they lost to Bristol City. This season they were expected to go one better but inconsistent form has stopped them. A run of four wins in five lifted Palace to sixth on Boxing Day. Unfortunately for Eagles supporters they have won just three of the 12 games since and are now 10 points off the top six. They led 2-0 at Burnley on Tuesday night before losing 4-2 but they then inflicted on Swansea only their second home defeat at the weekend by beating them 3-1. Two games that perfectly sum up Palace's season.

Barnsley are desperate for the win as Saturday's abject home reverse to Blackpool dropped them into the bottom three. They have three games in hand on fourth from bottom Nottingham Forest, but after tomorrow six of the remaining nine games are away from Oakwell. Tomorrow also ends a run of three successive home games, and if they don't win tomorrow they will have been severely wasted!

Last Six Results:

Barnsley:

14/3/09 Barnsley 0-1 Blackpool (Championship)

10/3/09 Barnsley 1-1 Birmingham (Championship)

3/3/09 Cardiff 3-1 Barnsley (Championship)

28/2/09 Barnsley 2-1 QPR (Championship)

21/2/09 Barnsley 0-0 Charlton (Championship)

17/2/09 Sheffield Wednesday 0-1 Barnsley (Championship)

W:2 D:2 L:2 F:5 A:6 GD: -1 Points: 8

Crystal Palace :

14/3/09 Swansea 1-3 Crystal Palace (Championship)

11/3/09 Burnley 4-2 Crystal Palace (Championship)

7/3/09 Crystal Palace 2-1 Preston (Championship)

3/3/09 Crystal Palace 0-1 Wolves (Championship)

28/2/09 Watford 2-0 Crystal Palace (Championship)

24/2/09 Crystal Palace 0-0 Birmingham (Championship)

W: 2 D: 1 L: 3 F: 7 A: 9 GD: -2 Points: 10

Barnsley lie 22^nd in the Coca-Cola Championship with 40 points from 36 games.

Crystal Palace lie 11^th in the Coca-Cola Championship with 50 points from 37 games.

Barnsley could go as high as 19th with victory whilst Crystal Palace will remain 11^th .

Mad Sites:

www.barnsley-mad.co.uk