Barnsley vs Preston Predictions, Betting Tips and Match Previews

Barnsley come into this match following a disappointing midweek home defeat against Wolves. Having sold some key players in January, it’s hard to see them repeating their very strong first half of the season over the remaining months and a solid Preston side will fancy this.

Even with the likes of Hourihane and Winnall, who have departed the club, their home record hasn’t been that impressive, with some of their most convincing performances coming on the road. Barnsley’s average of 1.47 points per game at Oakwell is less than they’ve managed on their travels and they have already suffered 5 home defeats in the Championship this term, which is plenty given they are riding high in 8th place. They’ve conceded a worrying 1.73 goals per game at Oakwell and with some of their best attacking players having now gone, they really need to tighten up at the back.

Here they face a Preston side that has been very tough to beat over the past few months. They’ve only lost 4 of their last 21 games in the Championship. They did lose last time out at Cardiff but have previously responded well to setbacks such as that. They haven’t lost back-to-back games in the league since the opening month of the season. Given they lost 5 of their opening 6 league games, they’ve done really well to recover into a top half position and they could go above Barnsley with victory here.

Their away record is quite strong with 5 wins and 5 defeats on the road. Prior to their trip to South Wales, they’d only lost 1 of their previous 9 away games in the league, winning 4 of them. This feels like it could be a good time to be going to Oakwell, given the recent departures and given Barnsley have only won 3 of their last 13 at home in all competitions.

Therefore, backing Preston 0.0 Asian Handicap at 1.925 looks to offer value here.