Crystal Palace v Barnsley Preview

Posted on | October 17, 2008 | No Comments

With both coming into this game following comfortable victories, there’s plenty up for grabs for these two bottom half sides. Crystal Palace reached the play offs last season but a miserable start sees them languishing in 18^th at the moment, while Barnsley have so far proved the bookmakers correct and still sit in the relegation places.

As soon as Neil Warnock took over last season Palace saw a remarkable upturn in form, so much so that they ended up reaching the play offs only to lose to Bristol City in the semi-finals. With Warnock having something of a great CV through the Football League, many thought that he could work his magic again and take the Selhurst Park outfit back to the top flight. However, things couldn’t have started any worse and after failing to score a single goal in the league until late August, Warnock’s men have been in the lower reaches of the table all season. Fortunately for them, there looks to have been a recent recovery. The Eagles have collected seven points from their last three games and that has included impressive back-to-back wins over Charlton and Nottingham Forest. They look to have solved their goal scoring problems for now and as they still look tight at the back, Warnock will be hoping to edge closer to the top half on Saturday.

As for Barnsley, it all could have been so different for them had it not been for a second half comeback against Doncaster a couple of weeks ago. The Tykes were 1-0 down and after Darren Moore had seen red just minutes into the second half, the Oakwell faithful was getting restless and were calling for Simon Davey’s head. However, that sending off seemed to lift the team as they managed to score four goals which made them leapfrog Donny into 22^nd position. Obviously they’re still in the relegation zone but they will have taken great confidence from that result and if they can continue to perform so lethally in front of goal, perhaps they can get out of the bottom three this weekend. It’s worth mentioning that prior to that game they’d scored only four goals all season so to double that tally in that style was pretty impressive.

Both sides don’t have many concerns after the international break, with Palace missing just Alan Lee who won’t be risked just yet. Paddy McCarthy and Matt Lawrence are expected to be declared fit, meaning that Neil Warnock doesn’t have any fresh concerns. It’s a similar situation for Barnsley manager Simon Davey, with Davey welcoming back midfielder Hugo Colace following injury. There are slight doubts over Iain Hume and Jamal Campbell-Ryce and their availability will depend on how they’ve coped with traveling across the world through this two week break.

Barnsley may have romped past Doncaster a couple of weeks ago but there’s no getting away from the fact that Crystal Palace have a strong side. Under Warnock they’ve always been watertight at the back and now the goals are coming, we can only see a home win. 2-0 Eagles.

Related posts:

1. Barnsley v Crystal Palace Preview
2. Crystal Palace v QPR Preview
3. Sheffield Wednesday v Crystal Palace Preview
4. Cardiff v Crystal Palace Preview
5. Sheffield United v Crystal Palace Preview

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