Eng. Championship
2013-04-20 - Nottingham Forest vs Barnsley
A Sports Betting Pick by ArmchairPunter
Football – England – Championship
Saturday 20th April 2013 – Kickoff: 1500hrs
NOTTINGHAM FOREST
Play-off candidates Nottingham Forest take on second from bottom club Barnsley at the City Ground on Saturday afternoon with both teams needing points at each end of the table.
Nottingham Forest are just one point adrift of sixth placed Leicester City and following back-to-back defeats away at Cardiff City 0-3 and Middlesbrough 0-1 respectively, they dropped out of the play-off positions, but now have the chance to revive their play-off ambitions in front of an expected big crowd on Saturday afternoon.
Forest’s home record stands at a much improved 10-7-4 35/25 thanks largely to the influence of former manager Billy Davies who, since his return, has managed to inject new life into his Forest squad and they still have a real chance of making the top six.
An additional incentive for Forest to post all three points here today is that they have to travel to Millwall next weekend, with their final match of the season being an absolute crunch clash with east midlands rivals Leicester City at the City Ground which really could go either way and could be the play-off decider for both teams.
BARNSLEY
Visitors Barnsley once again find themselves in their customary position of fighting off relegation as they currently reside in 23rd place but just one point adrift of relegation rivals Huddersfield Town, Wolves and Peterborough United who are all on 51 points apiece.
Barnsley have produced some mixed results lately with wins over Watford in mid-March and play-off candidates Leicester City 2-0 earlier this month, but both of those successes came at their Oakwell ground, while away from home they’ve been less convincing.
A defeat at Sheffield Wednesday was then followed by back-to-back points at Cardiff City and Crystal Palace which were meritable results, but then they had a brain-fade and were thrashed 0-6 at home to Charlton Athletic last weekend.
Barnsley’s away record stands at 5-6-10 28/37 and they’ve failed to win on the road in their last five matches (but three ended up in draws). Losses at Bristol City and the aforementioned Sheffield Wednesday suggest they are susceptible on the road full-stop and not just at the higher placed teams.
THE BETTING VERDICT:
Points are important for both teams here today but I feel the influence of Forest manager Billy Davies might just eke out a vital three points for his lads at the expense of The Tykes, so I’ll back Forest for a narrow win. 1-0 to Forest.
The Pick :
Nottingham Forest 1 Barnsley 0
