Barnsley vs West Ham Betting Pick | Eng. Championship

Eng. Championship

2012-04-06 - Barnsley vs West Ham

A Sports Betting Pick by Auls

Barnsley v West Ham
Football: English Championship
Friday 6 April 2012 - Kick Off 5:15pm
This game is live on TV

Barnsley

Barnsley were expected to have a season of struggle against relegation, so they will be very happy in their current position of being all but a Championship side next season with 6 games left to play. With the freedom from pressure, the Tykes will either express themselves or the players will already be looking ahead to their Summer holidays.

The team are 18th in the Championship and hold a 9 point advantage over Bristol City in the final position of relegation. They have a solid 9-3-8 record at Oakwell, scoring 31 goals and conceding 32, and will recognise that one more win will complete their path to safety.

Barnsley have been in a horrible vein of form, winning just 1 of their last 9 games in the Championship, and they lost 7 of those games. Most of their poor results have come away from home, although they have lost 2 of their last 4 games here and only won 1, that coming last week against Peterborough United.

There are no fresh injury worries for Barnsley, but it is still a squad that is riddled with injuries and several first-team players are missing. Nathan Doyle will miss the Easter weekend fixtures through suspension.

West Ham

A 2-4 home loss to Reading last week has really upped the pressure on West Ham in the race for the automatic promotion spots and they could be even further behind as the Royals are playing Leeds United earlier in the day at the Majedski Stadium. Sam Allardyce has been given a vote of confidence by the board regardless of promotion this season, but he has lost the fans and the pressure is building.

The Hammers are currently 3rd in the Championship table and find themselves 4 points behind Reading in the final automatic promotion spot. They have an 11-5-4 record away from home, scoring 33 goals and conceding 20, and no other team has won more games on their travels in the League this season.

They were unbeaten in 11 games in the Championship before the defeat to Reading. West Ham have drawn a number of games recently, although their last win game on their travels at Peterborough United. They have won 3 of their last 5 away games in the Championship, the other two ending in draws.

Mark Noble is absent for this game, but Papa Bouba Diop is available again. Guy Demel and Winston Reid are also back for selection.

Head to Head

West Ham beat Barnsley 1-0 at home earlier this season thanks to an early goal from Papa Bouba Diop.

This will be their first visit to Oakwell since the 1997/98 season when West Ham were the 1-2 winners here.

Prediction

The defeat to Reading last week at Upton Park was more than a disappointment, especially the manner in which West Ham were beaten. They were leading 1-0, but conceded two goals in injury time of the first half and could never regain the momentum that was lost.

The Hammers come to Oakwell with a strong away record and they have scored at least 2 goals in 4 of their last 5 away games in the Championship. There is plenty of attacking talent in the side and they will feel sure they can take advantage of a Barnsley team that has struggled for form recently.

Barnsley have been conceding far too many goals at home, even though they beat Peterborough 1-0 at home last week, and both Birmingham City and Reading have visited this ground and scored at least 3 goals in the last six weeks.

However, they have scored in all but 1 of their last 20 games at home in all competitions so they will be able to cause West Ham problems as well.

With that last statistic in mind, I am going to back West Ham to win this game and at least 3 goals to be scored in the match, something that is offered at 3.50 by Ladbrokes. I think West Ham are capable of getting at least two goals here and I think they can go on and win this game so the 3.50 looks generous. This pick can be found under the 'Quatro' markets at Ladbrokes.