Preview: Huddersfield Town vs Barnsley - prediction, team news, lineups

Aiming to ramp up a climb towards the top six in the League One table with a second straight victory, Barnsley will head to the Accu Stadium on Saturday to take on Yorkshire rivals Huddersfield Town.

The hosts currently occupy the final playoff spot despite suffering back-to-back defeats, while their 13th-placed visitors are eight points behind with four games in hand.

Match preview

Huddersfield Town head into the weekend aiming to strengthen their grip on a top-six spot in League One, having seen their standing take a hit in recent weeks.

After an underwhelming first half to the campaign in their bid to return to the Championship at the second time of asking, the club hierarchy turned to Liam Manning in mid-January, tasking him with leading them into the playoffs and a potential top-two pursuit.

He made a fast start, overseeing the Terriers as they rebounded from consecutive losses under previous management to pick up three straight league wins in late January, but they have failed to continue that run since, firstly snatching a point from a 2-2 draw with Blackpool thanks to a pair of second-half goals.

Then on the back of an EFL Trophy defeat to Doncaster Rovers and an away league loss to Stevenage last weekend, Manning's men again met Doncaster on Tuesday and left the Eco-Power Stadium empty-handed as Luke Molyneux condemned them to a 1-0 defeat.

Now only left to focus on guaranteeing a playoff place, but having dropped to sixth spot and just a point above the chasing pack, Huddersfield Town will hope to strengthen their position once again with a bounce-back home win at the weekend.

Their visitors, meanwhile, make the trip across Yorkshire aiming to chip away at their gap to the hosts and the playoff spots with a second straight win.

Barnsley have arguably failed to find their groove throughout the 2025-26 term thus far, being yet to establish themselves in the playoff hunt having managed 41 points from their 29 games.

In those matches, Conor Hourihane's side have managed 11 victories alongside 10 defeats, scoring 49 goals while conceding 50, a tally only topped by one team.

Following a pair of draws and a loss in early February, seemingly further harming the Reds' hopes of climbing towards the top end of the division, they hosted Peterborough United in midweek and returned to winning ways in a 2-1 victory, falling behind and levelling through Luca Connell before Reyes Cleary scored the decisive goal early in the second half.

Still with plenty of work to do and the need for consistency, Barnsley do now find themselves eight points off the playoffs with four games in hand on Huddersfield and at two over every other side above them, and they will hope to improve their bid in the coming weeks and narrow that gap with a run of wins.

Huddersfield Town League One form:

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Huddersfield Town form (all competitions):

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Barnsley League One form:

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Team News

Huddersfield Town remain without defenders Joe Low and Jack Whatmough, midfielder Marcus McGuane and attacker Bojan Radulovic through injuries.

Their attacking worries have eased slightly, though, with January arrival Ryan Hardie now available after his own injury issues while Alfie May has completed a four-match suspension.

Hardie and May may both come in from the start to revitalise the attack alongside Marcus Harness, while Cameron Humphreys will hope to earn a start in midfield alongside Ryan Ledson.

Barnsley remain without Josh Earl and Tawanda Chirewa, although Georgie Gent was able to start in midweek after his layoff.

They could be unchanged from the midweek win, with Cleary continuing to star in attack having now managed six goals and 10 assists in League One this season.

Patrick Kelly, Scott Banks and David McGoldrick may complete the attack again despite competition from Tom Bradshaw, leaving Adam Phillips to partner key man Connell in the engine room.

Huddersfield Town possible starting lineup:

Nicholls; Balker, Wallace, Roughan; Gooch, Humphreys, Ledson, Mumba; Harness, May, Hardie

Barnsley possible starting lineup:

Goodman; O'Keefe, O'Connell, Shepherd, Gent; Connell, Phillips; Banks, Kelly, Cleary; McGoldrick

We say: Huddersfield Town 1-2 Barnsley

With a spring back in their step after the midweek win, allowing them to turn their focus up the table, we fancy Barnsley to pull of a statement win at the Accu Stadium against a faltering Huddersfield Town side.

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