Everything you need to know ahead of Wednesday night's clash with the Swans here at Oakwell.
A new era begins for Barnsley on Wednesday night, as we welcome Swansea City to Oakwell in a 7.45pm kick-off in the Sky Bet Championship.
It's the first match in charge for new head coach, Poya Asbaghi. The Iranian had just a watching brief in the capital at the weekend, as the Reds, led by Jo Laumann were comfortably brushed aside by league leaders, Fulham.
After an impressive opening quarter at Craven Cottage, the wheels came off after the home side went ahead, going on to beat the Reds 4-1, with substitute Victor Adeboyejo's strike a mere consolation in the end.
It condemned the Reds to an 11th league loss of the 21/22 season, leaving them sat second-bottom in the table, four points adrift of safety and now without a win away from home since victory at Huddersfield Town back in April.
The only positive of note from the defeat on Saturday was a welcome return to the starting XI for striker Carlton Morris, back from a three-month injury layoff to complete over 70 minutes of action.
Our new boss, ably assisted by Ferran Sibila has plenty of options at his disposal, with the Reds squad now practically at full complement for the first time this term. How the former IFK Goteborg coach will set the team up on Wednesday evening is up for debate for now, but it would be hugely beneficial were he to follow his four predecessors and chalk up a debut home victory.
There are however, doubts over the likes of Liam Kitching, Aapo Halme and Claudio Gomes, who've only returned to the training ground this week after respective knocks picked up recently.
Our guests on Wednesday evening, the Swans are coming off the back of back-to-back near-misses in terms of the end-of-season play-offs, defeated in 2020 at the semi-final stage by Brentford, before last season going a step further after beating the Reds in the semis, only to then lose comfortably at Wembley, again against their arch-nemesis, Brentford.
They're the epitome this term of a mid-table side. Swansea have won, drawn and lost six games in the Sky Bet Championship so far, although their form has become more positive after what was a tricky transitional period across the opening month of the campaign.
A change in the dugout - Russell Martin left MK Dons for South Wales in the summer - has seen the club go back towards a more possession-based system, and as stated already, it’s garnered mixed results thus far.
At the weekend, they had to be happy with a point on home soil, after seeing visitors Blackpool hit back with an 86th minute equaliser in a 1-1 draw. On their previous road trip, they were thumped 4-0 by high-flying Bournemouth.
But Oakwell has been a happy hunting ground for the Swans, as have games against the Reds in general. They won twice here in South Yorkshire last season, and in the last 18 meetings, they’re unbeaten in normal time.
Their captain, Matt Grimes was one of the key players in last season's journey to Wembley, and he not only remains at the club, unlike a number who departed, he also recently signed a long-term contract with the Swans.
Up front this season, Swansea have benefited from Dutchman Joël Piroe's immediate impact after landing in Wales during the summer. The former PSV youngster has already hit double figures in a pretty free-scoring outfit. But at the back, they're a lot less solid this season, conceding 23 times at this point.
The man in the middle on Wednesday night is Lancastrian referee David Webb. This will be his second visit to Oakwell this season, having already overseen our 1-0 defeat against Millwall back in October.
Wednesday night’s game against the Swans will be broadcast live in the UK and overseas by iFollow Barnsley.
You can buy a match pass to watch the game for £10 in the UK, just click the link below for more information.
