Derby County registered a much-needed 2-1 win at home against Charlton Athletic on Monday night and they’ll be looking to follow that victory with another quick three points in this first fixture of 2020 and back-to-back wins.
That desperately needed win over Charlton has helped lift The Rams up into the relative safety of 17th place in the Championship where they now hold a more comfortable 9-point cushion above the relegation zone and another three points on Thursday evening could see Derby move closer to a more respectable mid-table position.
Results on home turf at Pride Park have been pretty reliable as well as Derby have suffered just 2 defeats out of their 13 matches at home to date, but having also drawn 5 as well as the 6 wins, it may be more prudent to look at the goals market once again.
7 of Derby’s 13 matches at home have resulted with both teams scoring with Derby also failing to hit the back of the net in just 2 of these 13 matches.
Onto Barnsley and although The Tykes still occupy a place in the bottom three of the Championship, Gerhard Struber’s side have every reason to feel confident ahead of their trip to the east midlands on Thursday night as the visitors are unbeaten in their last 5 matches which has pulled them level on points with fourth from bottom club, Stoke City.
Recent wins against QPR 5-3 and a 2-1 win away at Millwall have been backed up by picking up points in draws with Reading, West Brom and Swansea City, and they’ll be looking to frustrate this Derby side at Pride Park too.
However, Barnsley have managed to pick up just the one win on their travels all season to date in the Championship, so backing The Tykes for a win here looks a risky ploy.
The visitors, though, have produced encouraging displays on the road in recent times with the win at Millwall along with the point at Swansea City - as well as holding West Brom to a draw at Oakwell too.
Given Derby’s fragile defensive unit and Barnsley’s encouraging run of results in recent weeks, both teams look like they could concede and score here with both teams looking to start their New Year off on a positive note.