Championship strugglers Barnsley will go in search of a first league win in nine matches when they host midtable Blackpool at Oakwell on Saturday afternoon.
The Tykes are currently 23rd in the table and eight points adrift of safety, while the Tangerines have fallen away from playoff contention and are 12th.
Match preview
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Poya Asbaghi finally got his first win as Barnsley manager in a thrilling 5-4 extra time victory over League Two side Barrow in the FA Cup third round last weekend.
For a side who have netted just 16 goals in 24 league matches this season, scoring five in one game should give them a huge confidence boost.
Asbaghi will now be eager to build on that victory and get his first league win since replacing Markus Schopp in mid-November.
The Tykes have recorded just two league wins this season and both of those came at Oakwell, so the former Sweden Under-21 boss will hope that the South Yorkshire faithful will play a part in his side securing three points on Saturday.
Draws against top six sides Huddersfield Town and West Bromwich Albion in their last two home league matches suggest that things are gradually improving; Barnsley have not gone three matches unbeaten in the Championship at Oakwell this season.
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Blackpool have lost their last three away games and have only picked up three wins on the road this season – all by one-goal margins.
The Tangerines were beaten 2-1 by League Two side Hartlepool United in the FA Cup last weekend, with Neil Critchley admitting it was "not a nice feeling" to be on the end of an upset.
It is now just two wins in 12 matches for the Lancashire side, who were sixth in the Championship table before this run; now they are 11 points behind the playoffs.
Shayne Lavery's first half goal secured a 1-0 win for Blackpool over Barnsley in the reverse fixture earlier in the season, but the Tangerines have not won a league game at Oakwell since 2011.
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Team News
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Team News text here
Barnsley possible starting lineup:
Lineup here
Blackpool possible starting lineup:
Lineup here
We say: Barnsley X-Y Blackpool
Prediction justification text here
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 36.35%. A win for Blackpool had a probability of 35.28% and a draw had a probability of 28.4%.
The most likely scoreline for a Barnsley win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.63%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (7.7%) and 2-0 (6.75%). The likeliest Blackpool win was 0-1 (11.42%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.25%). The actual scoreline of 0-2 was predicted with a 6.5% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted that Blackpool would win this match.
