As we are all aware of by now, games come thick and fast in the Championship and following Newcastle’s comfortable 3-1 win against Brentford on Saturday is a trip to Oakwell this evening to play Barnsley.
Newcastle, who currently sit second in the table with 25 points, will be looking to make it 4 consecutive wins in order to help solidify their place in one of the automatic promotion positions. Overall, out of their last 10 games, Newcastle have managed to win 8 of them and have averaged 2.4 goals per game. Benitez has no new injuries to worry about.
Barnsley, on the other hand, are on a bit of a downward spiral at the moment. The newly promoted team got off to a flier with five wins from their opening seven league games; however, they have now only picked up a solitary point from their last five games. As a result of this, they are slowly slipping back down the table and currently sit in 11th place with 16 points. Barnsley will be looking for a positive result to try and stop the rot.
When it comes to injuries, Barnsley will be unable to call upon their captain Conor Hourihane due to a calf strain, Josh Scowen as he begins a three-game ban and Adam Armstrong because he is on loan from Newcastle.
Newcastle are the top goalscorers in the league with 25 goals and Barnsley are sixth on the list with 19 goals (10 of these goals have been scored in the last 15 minutes of games). Therefore, Newcastle will be hoping that they are out of sight come the final quarter of an hour. One thing is for certain, there will be goals in this one.
