All the information ahead of tomorrow's Oakwell encounter against Fulham.
Barnsley v Fulham
Barnsley will be looking to end a run of four matches without a win when they welcome Fulham to Oakwell tomorrow.
Despite a fine start to the season which saw the Reds win five of their opening seven games, three defeats and a draw in the Club’s last four outings has seen them drop down to 10th place in the Championship.
Paul Heckingbottom’s side have only lost once at home in the league all season however and they will host Fulham eager to build on the 1-1 draw picked up against Aston Villa in their last home match.
Visitors Fulham meanwhile, have failed to taste victory in their last seven games, losing four and drawing three.
All four of those defeats have come at home however, with Slavisa Jokanovic’s men – who sit 14th - unbeaten on the road so far this term in both league and cup.
Three wins and three draws away from Craven Cottage have seen them become a resilient unit on their travels and the Reds will have to be at their best to break them down tomorrow.
Previous Meetings
Tomorrow’s meeting between Barnsley and Fulham will be the first between the sides in over 15 years.
They last crossed paths in the 2000-01 season when a Louis Saha hat-trick helped the Cottagers on their way to a 5-1 home triumph against the Reds, while back at Oakwell in the most recent meeting it was less action-packed with the score line ending goalless.
You don’t have to go back much further for Barnsley’s last success in this fixture however, with the Tykes completing the double over their Southwest London-based opponents in the 1999-2000 campaign.
In the capital, Robin van der Laan was on target in a 3-1 win, while back in South Yorkshire and a first-half Neil Shipperley effort was enough to earn the Reds their 31st triumph against Fulham, who trail behind on 22 wins.
Team News
Paul Heckingbottom will be without full-back Aidy White once more, as well as on-loan Celtic winger Saidy Janko as both players recover from their respective injuries. But James Bree comes back into contention having played in the U23s recently and trained all week.
Elsewhere, Adam Armstrong – the winner of the Sky Bet Goal of the Month award this morning - will be hoping his goal scoring exploits for the England U20’s side will earn himself another starting berth in attack, while Ryan Williams will soon be knocking on the door after playing 76 minutes for the U23s side on Monday.
For visitors Fulham, giant forward Matt Smith will be pushing for a start after being named on the bench in his Club’s last game.
If Smith does return, fellow striker Chris Martin could miss out with boss Slavisa Jokanovic likely to stick with the 4-2-3-1 formation which has proved extremely successful for the Cottagers on the road so far this season.
Man in the Middle
The Reds will look to continue their impressive record in the company of referee Keith Stroud tomorrow. With the Hampshire-based official in charge, Barnsley have won four, drawn two and lost just one of their seven meetings.
That defeat did come in the Tykes most recent game with Stroud however, as he watched over the Club’s opening day loss at Ipswich.
Just like with Barnsley, the 47-year-old official has overseen seven Fulham matches, with the Cottagers winning three, drawing two and losing two.
Their most recent meeting came on Boxing Day 2014 when Stroud was the man in the middle for Fulham’s 2-0 away defeat at AFC Bournemouth.
So far this season, the referee has dished out five red cards and 61 yellows in just 14 games.
Their Star Man
Fulham’s bright start to the campaign may have dwindled in the past few weeks but one man who continues to impress is attacking midfielder Tom Cairney.
Signed from Championship rivals Blackburn Rovers in June 2015, the former Scotland U21 international scored eight times in his debut season with the Cottagers last time out including a winner on the final day of the campaign against Bolton.
With the Fulham faithful witnessing glimpses of what their new midfielder could do, big things were expected of the former Hull man this term and he has delivered in spades so far.
The 25-year-old hit two goals in his first six games including a winner against former employers Blackburn, and although he has only struck once more since then, it did come in the form of an equaliser for the Cottagers at Nottingham Forest just over two weeks ago to maintain their unbeaten away run.
Three goals and just one assist may not signal a player on the top of his game, but Cairney’s ability to link the play and his energy pushing forward has been and will continue to be vital for Fulham in the coming weeks and months.
Mutual Man
At the age of 37, Jonathan Greening currently plies his trade with Evo Stik Northern Premier League Division One North side Tadcaster Albion, who are the veteran midfielder’s ninth Club of a career which began all the way back in 1996 with York City.
Since then, Greening has turned out for a whole host of clubs including Manchester United, as well as both Fulham and the Reds.
He first joined the Cottagers in August 2009 on a season-long loan deal from West Brom making 34 appearances and scoring one goal. The highlight of his time with the club however came when he helped the Southwest London-based side reach the Europa League final, in which he was introduced as a late substitute as Fulham narrowly lost out to Spanish giants Atletico Madrid.
Following that successful loan spell, Greening penned a permanent two-year deal with the Cottagers but after making only 14 appearances in the 2010-11 season he was on the move again in July 2011, penning a deal with Nottingham Forest.
He quickly became a regular at the City Ground but just four months into his second campaign with the club he completed a loan switch to Barnsley. The Scarborough-born midfielder made his Reds debut in a 2-1 home defeat against Cardiff and went onto appear six times in total for us.
Despite failing to win during his time at Oakwell, Greening started all six of those games and on Boxing Day 2012 he scored his only goal for the Club in a 2-1 home defeat against Birmingham City, firing in from long range.
After spending one more season at Forest, Greening enjoyed spells with Tadcaster Albion and then York City, but in December 2015 he re-joined Tadcaster, with whom he won promotion in May.
Form Guide
Barnsley’s last five at home: (WWWLD)
Barnsley 2-0 Derby County (13/08/2016)
Barnsley 3-2 Queens Park Rangers (17/08/2016)
Barnsley 4-0 Rotherham United (27/08/2016)
Barnsley 1-2 Reading (17/09/2016)
Barnsley 1-1 Aston Villa (27/09/2016)
Fulham’s last five away from home: (WDWDD)
Preston North End 1-2 Fulham (13/08/2016)
Leeds United 1-1 Fulham (16/08/2016)
Blackburn Rovers 0-1 Fulham (27/08/2016)
Wigan Athletic 0-0 Fulham (17/09/2016)
Nottingham Forest 1-1 Fulham (27/09/2016)