Coca-Cola Championship Matchday Twenty-Three: Wolverhampton Wanderers v Barnsley

Last updated : 12 December 2008 By Rob Miles (barnsley Boy)

Team News

Half way point of the season and Barnsley are set to name an unchanged side from Tuesday's 2-2 draw at Swansea with the five players who missed the trip to Wales with injury are unlikely to have recovered. Anderson De Silva is most likely to return with Reds assistant Ryan Kidd naming his chances of recovering from his foot injury as 50-50. All the others- Darren Moore, Rob Kozluk, Martin Devaney and Iain Hume are definitely out. Miguel Mostto is once again expected to play on the right wing with Jamie Cureton supporting Jon Macken in attack.

Likely Line-Up:

Heinz Muller

Marciano Van Homoet

Stephen Foster ©

Dennis Souza

Bobby Hassell

Mounir El Haimour

Hugo Colace

Jamal Campbell-Ryce

Miguel Mostto

Jamie Cureton

Jon Macken

Head to Head

If Wolves incredible league form did not make this game hard enough then the fact Barnsley haven't take three points from Molienux since 1994 and have lost on their last five visits, scoring just the once.

Last season, when the Reds were 4th in the Championship, they were unlucky to succumb to a 1-0 defeat courtesy of a strike from Neil Collins. Istvan Ferenczi had a header wrongly ruled out for offside in the second half.

The meetings at Oakwell though are almost completely the opposite. Barnsley have won the last three, all 1-0, but before that Wolves had won on each of the previous four visits before then. If you look at the overall record however, at Molinuex Wolves have won 22, lost 7 and drew 8, at Oakwell Barnsley have won 21 of the meetings, lost 8 and drew 7. So the records state a home win when these two sides meet.

Barnsley 1-0 Wolves 4/12/07 Match Report

Wolves 1-0 Barnsley 10/11/08 Match Report

Barnsley 1-0 Wolves 16/9/06 Match Report

Last six Barnsley v Wolves Results:

4/12/07 Barnsley 1-0 Wolves (Championship)

10/11/07 Wolves 1-0 Barnsley (Championship)

1/1/07 Wolves 2-0 Barnsley (Championship)

16/9/06 Barnsley 1-0 Wolves (Championship)

29/1/02 Barnsley 1-0 Wolves (Division One)

27/11/01 Wolves 4-1 Barnsley (Division One)

Overall:

Barnsley Wins: 28

Wolves Wins: 30

Draws: 17

Barnsley Goals: 110

Wolves Goals: 125

At Wolves:

Barnsley Wins: 7

Wolves: Wins: 22

Draws: 8

Barnsley Goals: 34

Wolves Goals: 80

This Season

Wolves form in 2008-2009 has been nothing short of extraordinary. After defeat in the Play-Off Semis in 2006-2007 and then missing on the top six by ONE GOAL in 2007-2008 it looks like being third time lucky for ex Red Mick McCarthy's boys. Wolves had a stunning start to the season, winning seven of their first eight games, and they have gone on a run of seven straight wins TWICE this season already!

Their home form is the best in the Football League, winning nine of their eleven matches. They suffered only their fourth defeat of the season at QPR on Saturday, but got over that by thumping Derby 3-0 on Tuesday to remain three points clear at the top of the Championship. That win took them to 50 points for the season- the last team to have that many points at this stage of the season was Reading in 2005-2006, and they ended up storming to the title by gaining 106 points!

Barnsley know they should have grabbed their first win in four on Tuesday night but threw away a 2-0 lead at Swansea in the final half an hour with the killer equaliser coming just 15 seconds from time. It means The Reds are searching for their first win in five and only their third away win of the season.

A win for Wolves could put them six points clear at the top of the league, depending on the results of Birmingham and Reading, whilst a win for Barnsley could lift them as high as 14th.

Last Six Results

Barnsley:

9/12/08 Swansea 2-2 Barnsley (Championship)

6/12/08 Barnsley 0-1 Reading (Championship)

29/11/08 Nottingham Forest 1-0 Barnsley (Championship)

24/11/08 Barnsley 3-2 Burnley (Championship)

22/11/08 Preston 2-1 Barnsley (Championship)

15/11/08 Barnsley 2-1 Watford (Championship)

W:2 D:1 L:3 F:8 A:9 GD:-1 Points:7

Wolves:

9/12/08 Wolves 3-0 Derby (Championship)

6/12/08 QPR 1-0 Wolves (Championship)

29/11/08 Wolves 1-1 Birmingham (Championship)

25/11/08 Sheffield United 1-3 Wolves (Championship)

22/11/08 Wolves 2-0 Blackpool (Championship)

15/11/08 Southampton 1-2 Wolves (Championship)

W:4 D:1 L:1 F:11 A:4 GD:+7 Points:13

Barnsley lie 17th in the Coca-Cola Championship with 25 points from 22 games.

Wolves lie 1st in the Coca-Cola Championship with 50 points from 22 games.

Mad Sites:

www.barnsley-mad.co.uk

www.wolverhamptonwanderers-mad.co.uk

Official Sites:

www.barnsleyfc.co.uk

www.wolves.co.uk

Other Fixtures:

Saturday, 13 December 2008

Burnley v Southampton, 15:00

Crystal Palace v Doncaster, 15:00

Ipswich v Cardiff, 15:00

Nottm Forest v Blackpool, 15:00

Plymouth v QPR, 15:00

Preston v Birmingham, 17:20

Reading v Norwich, 15:00

Sheff Wed v Bristol City, 15:00

Swansea v Sheff Utd, 15:00

Watford v Coventry, 15:00