Perhaps a little unfairly, this match is being dubbed as a potential early relegation battle as two of the three promoted teams from last season’s League One face off at Oakwell with Barnsley taking on Luton Town.
An opening day 1-0 win over Fulham who had dropped down from the Premier League saw Barnsley make a bright start in their return to the Championship, but since that early euphoria, things have gone a little flat for The Tykes as they’ve failed to win any of their subsequent three league matches.
The 2-0 defeats away at both Sheffield Wednesday and Birmingham City respectively were either side of a 2-2 draw at home with fellow promoted side, Charlton Athletic, meaning that Barnsley have earned just 1 further point after their opening win of the season.
Overall results at Championship level have seen Barnsley collect just 3 wins out of their last 17 matches, but at Oakwell, the hosts are unbeaten in their last 6 matches. Incidentally, 4 of these last 6 at home have resulted in over 2.5 goals too.
Onto Luton Town, and the visitors also made a bright start to their Championship campaign as they shared the points with Middlesbrough in the curtain-raiser at Kenilworth Road in a highly entertaining 3-3 draw.
The Hatters are starting to become one of the league’s entertaining teams this term although for the wrong reasons as Graeme Jones’s side have captured just 1 point after their first four matches of the new season.
Three defeats on the trot have followed that opening day point against Middlesbrough as Luton Town have slumped to defeats to Cardiff City, West Brom and Sheffield Wednesday, while 3 of their 4 matches to date have resulted in over 2.5 goals.
This will be scant consolation for Luton’s fans though as they see their side in the early relegation places, third from bottom in the Championship with just 1 point to their name so far this season.
That said, The Hatters may well fancy their chances of getting something from this clash against Barnsley as they make their way up to South Yorkshire as Barnsley also find themselves down in the lower regions of this early Championship league table.
If previous encounters between these two sides are anything to go by, there could be a few goals in this one as 4 of the last 6 meetings have resulted in over 2.5 goals.