Both aiming to end poor runs of form and climb back towards the League One table's top six, Exeter City and Barnsley will do battle at St James Park on Saturday.
Having both endured five-match winless runs heading into the weekend, the visitors have dropped to eighth spot while their hosts are three points worse off in 11th place.
Match preview
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Exeter City return to action on Saturday aiming to record a first win in six League One games, having hit their toughest patch of the campaign thus far in recent weeks.
Following a 13th-placed finish last time around, Gary Caldwell's side enjoyed a pleasing start to the new term, moving onto 22 points from 13 outings with a seventh league win of the season last month, but they have since struggled to follow that up.
Indeed, in their last five attempts, the Grecians have earned just two more points, playing out 0-0 and 2-2 draws at home to Lincoln City and leaders Wycombe Wanderers respectively either side of defeats to Wrexham and Birmingham City.
Their tough schedule continued with a trip to Stockport County on Saturday, and Caldwell's men again came away empty-handed, falling behind to a Tristan Crama own goal in the 67th minute before Louie Barry wrapped up a 2-0 home win with a penalty in the dying minutes.
While their tough run of form has come during five straight fixtures against top-nine opposition in League One, Exeter City, now on the back of a 2-1 EFL Trophy loss to Birmingham City in midweek, will be desperate to end their slump at the weekend and avoid slipping further down the table towards the bottom half.
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They face another of the league's promotion-chasers in that bid, though, albeit with the visitors also fighting to end a winless run on Saturday.
Barnsley will aim to move back within touching distance of the playoff spots, having dropped to ninth spot in the midst of a rut after enjoying a relatively positive start to life under Darrell Clarke.
Aiming to win promotion back to the Championship under their new boss after back-to-back playoff defeats, the Yorkshire outfit earned 25 points from their first 14 games, but they have also managed to add just two more to that tally in the last five attempts, firstly drawing with Cambridge United and Reading either side of a defeat to Wigan Athletic.
The Reds now head into the weekend on the back of consecutive league losses for the first time this season, having travelled to Wrexham and fallen short as Oliver Rathbone netted the only goal in injury time, before most recently hosting Birmingham City last weekend and leading through an own goal, only for Jay Stansfield to turn the game on its head with a second-half brace.
Now sitting four points outside of the top six, but still boasting an impressive away record, with only two sides in the division topping their 16 points in nine games on the road thus far, Barnsley will look to bounce back to winning ways and narrow their gap to the playoffs on Saturday.
Team News
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Exeter City remain without Yanic Wildschut and Pat Jones, who are yet to feature this season due to long-term injuries, although Demetri Mitchell has returned from his own layoff and will hope to earn a first start of the season after four substitute appearances in the league.
Josh Magennis will hope to return to the attack and join Millenic Alli, with the pair tied at the top of the Grecians' scoring charts on five goals for the campaign, while Ilmari Niskanen, Caleb Watts and Jack Aitchison will also compete for spots.
If deemed fit, Ryan Woods will return to the midfield alongside Jack McMillan, after veteran Kevin McDonald came in for Tuesday's EFL Trophy trip to Birmingham City.
Barnsley head into the weekend without key midfielder and top scorer Adam Phillips, who will serve a suspension after being sent off in last week's defeat to Birmingham City.
They are hit by injuries too, with attacker Fabio Jalo sidelined alongside defenders Marc Roberts and Josh Earl, meaning Conor McCarthy will likely join Mael de Gevigney and Donovan Pines in a back three.
Matthew Craig should take Phillips's place alongside Luca Connell and Jon Russell in midfield, while summer signings Davis Keillor-Dunn and Stephen Humphrys will continue in attack having scored five and four goals respectively so far this term.
Exeter City possible starting lineup:
Whitworth; Sweeney, Crama, Francis; Niskanen, McMillan, Woods, Harper; Aitchison, Alli; Magennis
Barnsley possible starting lineup:
Killip; De Gevigney, Pines, McCarthy; O'Keefe, Craig, Connell, Russell, Gent; Keillor-Dunn, Humphrys
We say: Exeter City 1-2 Barnsley
Saturday's contest promises to be a hard-fought one between two sides desperate to end slumps in their form.
Even without Phillips, Barnsley's quality should be enough to get them over the line and trigger an improvement beginning at St James Park.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Sam Varley
