Preview: Barnsley vs Cardiff City - prediction, team news, lineups

Barnsley welcome Cardiff City to Oakwell Stadium on Tuesday evening for their latest instalment of League One action.

The Tykes held on to claim a 2-1 win against Exeter City in their previous league outing, while the Bluebirds' title aspirations took a damning hit as they were beaten 2-0 by Lincoln City.

Match preview

After losing 1-0 to Wycombe Wanderers on Tuesday evening, Barnsley returned to winning ways by beating Exeter 2-1 at Oakwell Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Although Conor Hourihane's side sit eight points behind Huddersfield Town, who currently occupy the final playoff place, the Tykes do have three games in hand on the Terriers, as well as many of the teams around them.

What has prevented Barnsley from pushing further up the League One table so far has undoubtedly been their leaky defence, as despite there being only three other sides hitting the back of the net on more occasions, only two teams have conceded more than the South Yorkshire side's 55 goals after 33 games.

Having not won back-to-back matches since November 8, Barnsley will be looking to begin a promotion charge on Tuesday evening by winning consecutive matches ahead of a fixture run in which their following five games are all against sides below them in the league table.

However, claiming all three points against Cardiff will be no easy feat, with the Tykes losing seven of their previous nine matches against the Welsh side, the most recent of which being a 4-0 drubbing at the Cardiff City Stadium earlier in the season.

After suffering relegation from the Championship last season, Cardiff look likely for an immediate return this campaign, sitting eight points above Bolton Wanderers in third as well as having a game in hand on the Trotters.

However, following a 12 match unbeaten run, Brian Barry's side have lost two of their previous three matches, conceding seven goals across those defeats.

The most recent of which was a disappointing 2-0 loss to Lincoln at the Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday afternoon, which meant that Cardiff were leapfrogged by the Imps at the summit of the League One table and fell below top spot for the first time since November.

If the Bluebirds want to turn around their patchy form, they will likely need to rely on their goalscoring prowess, having scored more than any other side in the division with 68 and Saturday's loss being their first blank since a 1-0 loss away at Bolton in October.

Barry's men will see Tuesday's match as the perfect opportunity to do so, with Cardiff unbeaten in their previous 10 matches against Barnsley, dating back to a 4-3 loss at the Cardiff City Stadium in December 2016.

Barnsley League One form:

Cardiff City League One form:

Team News

Josh Earl has not played for Barnsley since New Year's Day due to a broken foot and is not expected to return until after the March international break.

The Tykes have also been without Patrick Kelly for two matches, although he is expected back soon, while Tawanda Chirewa has returned to parent club Wolverhampton Wanderers for rehabilitation after sustaining an ankle problem.

Yousef Salech is back with the Cardiff squad after suffering a neck ligament injury against Stockport County on January 24, however is not available just yet.

Shortly after being sidelined with delayed concussion, Welsh forward Isaak Davies is set to be out for over two weeks with a fresh hamstring injury.

Fellow countryman Eli King is also unavailable and set to be vacant for the rest of the season after sustaining an ACL injury during a training session in August

Barnsley possible starting lineup:

Goodman; O'Keeffe, de Gevigney, O'Connell, Gent; Connell, Phillips; Banks, Bland, Cleary; McGoldrick

Cardiff City possible starting lineup:

Trott; Ng, Osho, Chambers, Bagan; Robertson, Turnbull; Tanner, Colwill, Willock; Kellyman

We say: Barnsley 1-2 Cardiff City

With both sides enduring a patchy run of form, there is little to pick between the two heading into Tuesday's contest.

However, although we think Barnsley will get on the scoresheet, we are backing Cardiff to return to winning ways at Oakwell Stadium ahead of a crucial final 10 league matches.

With Lincoln facing difficult games against promotion pushers Huddersfield and Stockport in their next three fixtures, there is every chance that a string of wins could see the Bluebirds back at the top of the table.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.