Poya Asbaghi begins his reign as Barnsley head coach with a home fixture against Swansea City on Wednesday evening.
At a time when the Tykes are four points adrift of safety in the Championship, the visitors occupy 12th position in the table.
Match preview
© Reuters
While Swansea are very much on an upward trajectory under Russell Martin, there will be a sense of frustration over their last two results in the Championship.
On the back of being thrashed 4-0 at Bournemouth, Swansea looked well on the way to a welcome return to winning ways when leading Blackpool in South Wales.
However, the Swans had to settle for a share of the spoils after conceding an equaliser four minutes from time, just the fifth time that they had shipped a goal on home turf.
Although Swansea are in a much better place compared to a couple of months ago, they remain with just six wins from 18 matches, far below expectations and what is required to challenge for the playoffs.
Despite the gap to sixth-placed Queens Park Rangers sitting at just five points, Swansea can ill-afford another game without success as the teams above them continue to collect points on a regular basis.
From Barnsley's perspective, this is the start of a new era for the third time in little more than a year, Asbaghi now tasked with trying to keep the club in the Championship.
The promotion dreams under Valerien Ismael are very much a distant memory, and the former Sweden Under-21s boss now has the difficult job of implementing a new playing style while moving his team out of the relegation zone.
A long-term target for the Yorkshire side, Asbaghi will be given time, but he requires an instant response from a group of players who have lost nine of their last 10 games.
The sole positive from Saturday's 4-1 reverse was Victor Adeboyejo netting his second strike in three outings.
- L
- L
- L
- W
- L
- L
- W
- L
- W
- W
- L
- D
Team News
© Reuters
Barnsley switched to a back four on Saturday, a sign that Asbaghi will not use their tried-and-trusted defensive three going forward.
The Tykes could line up with a similar team to the one from the weekend, Aaron Leya Iseka and Adeboyejo most likely to be handed a recall.
However, Callum Brittain is also available after a ban and may come back into the side at right-back.
Swansea are able to call upon Ryan Bennett after the defender served his one-match suspension on Saturday.
The centre-back may take the spot of Ben Cabango, but that could prove to be the only change to the starting lineup.
Barnsley possible starting lineup:
Collins; Brittain, Helik, Andersen, Williams; Styles, Benson; Adeboyejo, Palmer, Iseka; Woodrow
Swansea City possible starting lineup:
Hamer; Bennett, Naughton, Manning; Laird, Grimes, Downes, Bidwell; Ntcham, Paterson; Piroe
We say: Barnsley 1-2 Swansea City
With Barnsley heading into the unknown with Asbaghi, this is a difficult match to predict. While we expect instant improvements from the Tykes, it may not be enough to get the better of a Swansea side who have an effective way of playing under Martin.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Barnsley win with a probability of 35.63%. A win for Swansea City had a probability of 34.55% and a draw had a probability of 29.8%.
The most likely scoreline for a Barnsley win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.87%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (7.21%) and 2-0 (6.88%). The likeliest Swansea City win was 0-1 (12.62%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.48%). The actual scoreline of 0-2 was predicted with a 6.6% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted that Swansea City would win this match.
