Eng. Championship
2011-12-06 - Barnsley vs Crystal Palace
A Sports Betting Pick by ArmchairPunter
Football – England – Championship
Tuesday 6th December 2011 – Kickoff: 1945hrs
Much improved Barnsley take on Carling Cup semi-finalists Crystal Palace at their Oakwell ground on Tuesday night with the home side looking to post a fourth successive Championship win to take them to the edges of the play-off positions.
Barnsley
The Yorkshire outfit have strung together a useful recent run of results lately with just one loss and four straight wins that has taken them out of the bottom quarter of the division and almost within reach of a previously unlikely play-off place.
Wins over Hull City and Doncaster Rovers at home and away at Leeds United and Peterborough United have propelled The Tykes into one of the Championship’s form teams right now.
The Barnsley home record is also improving too which now stands at 4-2-3 12/9 and manager Keith Hill has his boys playing attractive attacking football – to outscore high-scoring Peterborough in their own back-yard speaks volumes about their renewed confidence and belief around the squad.
It’s been a team effort with the goalscoring so far with former Chesterfield striker Craig Davies (6 goals,2 assists) heading the list with assistance from Jacob Butterfield (5 goals, 4 assists), former Bolton forward Ricardo Vaz Te (4 goals, 1 assist) along with Newcastle loanee Nile Ranger in attack also. Midfielders Daniel Drinkwater and James O’Brien (3 assists each) lead the creativity.
Crystal Palace
Just a few weeks ago, tonight’s visitors Crystal Palace were one of the form teams of the Championship and with their recent Carling Cup exploits in which they beat Premiership Manchester United to reach the semi’s, I wonder if their league attention has wandered slightly? No wins in their last six Championship games and The Eagles have now slipped to 12th place.
A recent run of draws against Reading, Portsmouth, Millwall and Derby County has meant they’ve lost a bit of ground on the play-off pack and their earlier form during October where they recorded three straight wins and a 2-2 draw at West Ham seems to have deserted them for the time being.
Palace’s away record stands at 4-0-5 10/12 but they’ve lost two on the trot at Cardiff City and Leicester City and will be hoping to buck that trend at Oakwell Tuesday night.
Cup hero Glenn Murray (4 goals, 1 assist) leads the goalscoring, along with winger Sean Scannell (3 goals, 4 assists), Wilfred Zaha and Jermaine Easter (2 goals apiece).
I do wonder though, how much that extra-time win against Manchester United took out of the players and if they now have one eye on booking their first major cup final in years...
The Betting Verdict :
Barnsley definitely have the better momentum and should be fitter and fresher (plus home advantage) against perhaps a tiring Palace side; Barnsley to win 1-0 but will take the handicap as I also can’t rule out another draw with Palace playing!
BEST BETTING TIP :
Value Pick :Conside a bet on Barnsley to win @ 2.39 at Pinnacle
Gooner’s Statistical Value Bet
