Barnsley currently sit 22nd in the Championship and eight points adrift of safety, although they do have a game in hand on 21st-placed Reading, with Poya Asbaghi's team set to travel to South Wales on Friday.
The Swansea.com Stadium is the venue for the South Yorkshire side this week, when they will face an in-form Swansea City, who enter this encounter five games unbeaten.
Match preview
© Reuters
Russell Martin's side won three consecutive games for the first time this season, after securing a 2-1 win over relegation-threatened Derby County on Saturday.
A brace from Joel Piroe inside 16 minutes of that match set the Swans up well for another three points, but the visitors did make the hosts work hard for their victory after getting back into the game with a Tom Lawrence penalty.
Swansea currently sit 14th in the Championship, with an outside chance of reaching the playoffs as they are eight points behind sixth with a game in hand, but a more realistic aim is to finish Martin's first campaign in the dugout strongly and in the top half of the table.
The Swans are on their longest unbeaten run of the season, and with four of their remaining six games all coming on their own patch, they should be confident about ending the campaign well.
Friday's hosts are certain to dominate possession against Barnsley, and that may help them keep their 17th clean sheet of the year, which seems remarkable considering that the team have conceded 53 goals in 40 matches.
© Reuters
Barnsley have to pick themselves up after a heavy 4-1 defeat against Millwall last time out, in a game which they did not manage to contain the hosts' attacks, with the Lions registering 10 shots on target.
That result for Asbaghi's side may not have come as a surprise to many, considering that they have only managed to win once on their travels this season, which does not bode well for Friday.
If the Colliers lose both games over this bank holiday weekend, they could be relegated by the end of Monday, which will bring to an end their three-year spell in the second division.
As the visitors can expect Swansea to dominate possession, they will have to be effective with their counter-attacks and could also look to dent the hosts through set pieces.
Goals from Olivier Ntcham and Jamie Paterson secured a 2-0 victory for Swansea in the reverse fixture at Oakwell in November, when the home side struggled to get a foothold in the game, registering just two shots at goal.
- L
- W
- D
- W
- W
- W
- D
- D
- W
- L
- D
- L
Team News
© Reuters
Swans midfielder Flynn Downes has missed the last two matches due to a slight knock, but he is in contention to come back into the side on Friday, potentially taking the place of Jay Fulton in the starting 11.
Hannes Wolf was praised by manager Martin after his performances against Cardiff, Millwall and in particular last time out against Derby, and he is expected to keep his left wing-back role.
Piroe's brace last weekend took him to 20 goals in all competitions this season, while fellow strike partner Michael Obafemi will look to add to his nine Championship goals on Friday, when he leads the line for the hosts.
Aapo Halme, Cauley Woodrow and Michal Helik have been sorely missed in recent weeks, but Barnsley will have to continue without them this weekend due to injury.
Goalkeeper Bradley Collins was forced off after just 24 minutes during his side's defeat at Millwall, and Jack Walton is now expected to continue between the posts for the Colliers.
Asbaghi will set his side up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Carlton Morris certain to lead the line, while Quina and Callum Styles will look to create chances for the lone striker from wide areas.
Swansea City possible starting lineup:
Fisher; Latibeaudiere, Naughton, Cabango; Wolf, Grimes, Downes, Christie; Paterson, Piroe; Obafemi
Barnsley possible starting lineup:
Walton; Vita, Andersen, Kitching, Brittain; Palmer, Wolfe; Quina, Bassi, Styles; Morris
We say: Swansea City 3-0 Barnsley
Swansea are in the best form that they have been in all season and their confidence will be high going into this game, making the hosts strong favourites to collect maximum points.
Barnsley are fighting to save their Championship status, but a heavy defeat against Millwall may have been the evidence to show that Asbaghi's side are heading closer to relegation confirmation.
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 Swansea City win with a probability of 57.67%. A draw had a probability of 24.2% and a win for Barnsley had a probability of 18.16%.
The most likely scoreline for a Swansea City win was 1-0 with a probability of 13.89%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (11.6%) and 2-1 (9.47%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.34%), while for a Barnsley win it was 0-1 (6.79%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with an 11.3% likelihood.
