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Brighton & Hove Albion is in great form lately and will be confident in a win when they take on last placed Barnsley at Amex Stadium, round 18 of the Championship.
Brighton is currently 9th in the standings, having moved up a couple of places do to their impressive recent form. The hosts have not lost in their last 6 games, and had 3 consecutive wins prior to the 1-1 draw at Bournemouth last round. Brighton looks very good at the moment, they are a mature and organized team, hard to break down. Their main strength is their defensive setup, Brighton conceding just 15 goals so far, which makes for the 3rd best defense in the league. The home has not been particularly impressive at Amex Stadium (3 wins, 3 draws, 2 losses), but they held Watford to a draw and defeated Blackburn 3-0 the last two times they played at home.
Barnsley will be under caretaker manager Micky Mellon for this game, after sacking David Flitcroft a few days ago. The visitors are on the last place at the moment and they are in bad form, with 2 consecutive losses and no wins in the last 5 games. Barnsley has failed to score in the last three outings. The visiting side has been horrible this season, and their goal difference of 16-36 16-35 speaks volumes about their capabilities. The worst part of Barnsley`s season has been their woeful play on the road: 1 draw and 7 defeats in 8 games.
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Team news & lineups
Brighton will get a few players back from injuries / suspensions but they will continue to miss Ulloa, Hoskins and Mackail-Smith. Barnsley will be without O`Grady and Steele. Caretaker manager Micky Mellon could potentially make some changes to the squad in his first game in charge.
Brighton: Kuszczak – Calderon, Greer, Upson, Ward – Bridcutt, Crofts, Forster-Caskey, Buckley – Barnes, Conway
Barnsley: Butland – Wiseman, M’voto, Cranie Kennedy – Perkins, O’Brien, McCourt, Dawson – Pedersen, Scotland
Brighton is the obvious choice here, as they are very good lately, while at the same time Barnsley is very poor. The visitors’ woeful away record is also an important argument for a bet on the hosts. Indeed, Barnsley has sacked the manager and that always makes for a bit of an unknown, but I have seen a lot of caretaker managers this year in England failing to change things short-term, and I have no reason to believe that Micky Mellon could do anything with this poor Barnsley side in his first game, especially on the road. Brighton is a very solid team, they could get into the playoff mix with a win here and they should be able to get the three points. I doubt the visitors can score against Brighton`s rock solid defense, while the hosts will surely get a lot of chances against a side that concedes more than 2 goals per game. I will pick Brighton to cover a 0.75 asian hadicap, I reckon they can win this by 2 or more but we will also get some profit if they will only record a narrow win. Last season at Amex Stadium, Brighton defeated Barnsley 5-1 in a dominant (to say the least) performance. My tip here is Brighton & Hove Albion – Barnsley 2-0.
Pick: Brighton (-0,75 Asian Handicap)
Odds: 1.83 @ Ladbrokes
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 6.64
Event date: 3 December
Editor Facts
- Rostick won 4 out of his last 5 picks with odds over 1.80
