Palace v Barnsley

Selhurst Park, Saturday 3.00pm

Story so far

Football really is a funny old game; and it especially shows with Barnsley, who have shown the footballing world exactly why nothing is predictable in football.

When we played Barnsley at Oakwell, they were just outside of the playoffs and we just outside of the relegation spots. Our roles have reversed this time.

However, Barnsley have somehow managed to do alright in the FA Cup, knocking one or two mediocre Premiership teams out, on their way to the Semi Finals.

The Tykes may only be five points from a relegation spot, but you just have to look at the teams below them to see how well Barnsley are actually doing. Leicester, Coventry City, Sheffield Wednesday, Southampton and Norwich are all below Barnsley in the table. Funny, considering two of those teams were relegated from the Premiership with us a few seasons back.

Still, Barnsley look strong enough to knock the trap door shut - not too many teams maul Ipswich the way they did. Although Shefki Kuqi was halfway to Ipswich, so their performances were bound to dwindle.

Team news

Butterfield missed the 1-1 draw against West Brom with a thigh strain and still remains a doubt for tomorrow's match.

Moses was forced to hobble off in the second half of the same match shortly after he equalised for the Eagles.

Midfielders Neil Danns (groin) and Mark Kennedy (Achilles) are still sidelined.

Martin Devaney (broken nose) and Marciano van Homoet (ankle) are expected to find themselves back in The Tykes squad for the trip to SE25.

Ex-Palace players Sam Togwell and Jon Macken could be selected in the starting line-up - Macken has weighed in with a few vital goals since his signing in January.

Quotes

Simon Davey

"We now need to push on and go to Crystal Palace and get three points away from home.

"Palace did very well at West Brom and we know it will be very tough for us. They had a new manager midway through the season and they have pushed on. We know it will be difficult but we are going there full of confidence and with nothing to fear.

"We know that our home form is not good enough and that is something we have to address. We have changed things around a bit on the road and really tried everything to get a win. We might need to change things again and look to grind out a result at places like Palace. We will keep trying to get the right formula and grind out that away win.

"We set out at the start of the season to be a better side than last year. We have done that. We set out to be more competitive than last year. We have more points on the board and are in the semi final of a competition that we were knocked out in the third round last year. Things are looking very rosy at this football club and we have to make sure we move forward and keep going.

"The trap door is still not closed and we have to make sure we pick up enough points quickly to sort that out soon. We have to make sure we have enough points on the board so that we can really go and enjoy our game at Wembley.

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Barnsley - league stats

Position	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points
17th	37	11	13	13	46

Full league table

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Barnsley - current form

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against
5	3	2	0	6	1

Full form table

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Our home record v Barnsley

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against
24	10	11	3	27	26

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Last five results

Date	Type	Home Team	Score	Away Team
08/12/2007	League	Barnsley	0 - 0	Crystal Palace
21/04/2007	League	Barnsley	2 - 0	Crystal Palace
18/11/2006	League	Crystal Palace	2 - 0	Barnsley
26/02/2002	League	Barnsley	1 - 4	Crystal Palace
22/09/2001	League	Crystal Palace	1 - 0	Barnsley

All time results

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One to watch

Brian Howard

I must admit, whilst looking at Barnsley's goal-scorers, I missed Brian Howard. I spotted Jon Macken, who happens to be their second top scorer with 6 goals but missed Howard - I suppose I just wasn't expecting to see anybody with 13 goals sitting in the 'midfielder' section.

The skipper just does fantastically well to score goals - late arrivals into the box, lashes from distance. He just wants to get on the scoresheet.

Howard leads by example and will drag the rest of the team with him to look for the win - I just hope his left foot takes a little knock before 3 o'clcok on Saturday.

Barnsley have struggled away from home, only picking up the one league win. So keep your eye on Macken in the last minute. We know what's going to happen - he'll pull up while clear through on goal.

Ref watch

I G Williamson

Last meeting

Barnsley 0-0 Palace

Saturday December 08 2007

Barnsley: Muller, Foster, Nyatanga, Souza, Werling, Campbell-Ryce, Anderson De Silva, Howard, Devaney, Ferenczi (Mostto, 70), Macken (Christensen, 85)

Subs not used: Van Homoet, Togwell, McCann

Bookings: Foster, Werling

Palace: Speroni, Butterfield, Hudson, Hill, Lawrence, Songo'o (Scannell, 54), Derry, Watson, Soares (Fletcher, 77), Scowcroft (Hills, 85), Morrison

Subs not used: Freedman, Martin

Bookings: Songo'o

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