Barnsley- Millwall

XP suggests these two are of similar ability, despite the Lions still being in playoff contention and Barnsley battling relegation. The ITB numbers also see the hosts are superior to what we come to expect from a bottom 3 or even 6 team and their last nine game stats are incredibly good, with a net +15 being good enough to rank them 6th , creating the 7th most and conceding the 4th fewest. Barnsley started with a 1-0 win away at a troubled QPR last weekend when I noted ...........

Rangers are trying to trim their wage bill and have not wanted, or been able to agree terms with captain and CB Grant Hall (30 appearances, 5 goals, 1 assist ) and LW Marc Pugh ( 27 appearances, 2 goals, 3 assists). two of the senior players at the club and both have left in the last week. Rangers have conceded 2 goals in each of the four home games that Hall has missed and lost 7 of the 10 that Pugh has sat out this season, including the last 5, through which they have shipped 16 goals. This will have hampered plans for today and I doubt the mood in the dressing room is particularly buoyant !

The home side still have an outside chance of making the playoffs so will have to gamble and they are always vulnerable here at Loftus Road where they have conceded 33 goals (joint most) and 20 and 13 more than the two teams immediately above them in the table. Barnsley are bottom of the table, but are a well run club who are much improved under Gerhard Struber (pictured) and with quadruple blue type numbers next to their name (see table above) . They are +15 ITB over Rangers through the last eight games, xP puts them 13th as opposed to 24th and reports from Struber are very positive about how the build up to this game has gone, in stark contrast to how things have played out at West London's 4th best club (sorry, couldn't resist !).

The Lions lost a crunch game at home to Derby County 3-2 and they are giving up just a few too many good scoring chances. The Tykes will be targeting three points today and they have a very good run of upcoming fixtures through which they will be looking to secure their survival and they will need to, as their final three games are against top 5 teams. Barnsley felt they were worth more than a single goal win last week and are another club who feel very focussed on the job in hand and Struber spoke about his team's "effort, concentration and good decision making" with his only regret that they were a little wasteful in front of the Rangers goal. Home win.

2 units Barnsley -0.25 ball 2.40 asian line/Sportmarket.

Stay safe and good luck !