Leeds endured a surprise defeat to Swansea City before the international break which was the first defeat for the club this season. Barnsley meanwhile are yet to win since their opening game victory against Fulham.

It looks like this could be a long tough season for the club and the three points against Leeds could go along way in boosting their confidence.

Leeds have a couple of players out injured ahead of the game with Luke Ayling and Tyler Robert high profile absentees.

KikoCasilla is expected to man the posts despite making some high profile errors last season. The Spaniard knows how to play the high-risk high reward style that Bielsafavours. In defence, captain Liam Cooper has been awarded a new contract and is likely to start alongside Brighton loanee Ben White in the backline.

Stuart Dallas who has been a revelation under Bielsa.shouldplay at right-back while Barry Douglas should feature at left-back.

Homegrown sensation Kalvan Phillips has proven to be the player that is key to their set up in the holding position and recently signed a new contract. While Mateusz Klich and Adam Forshaw are the preferred central midfield pair this season.

Pablo Hernandez and Jack Harrison should start on the flanks pushing Helder Costa to a place on the bench. Patrick Bamford should lead the line ahead of the exciting Eddie Nketiah who has impressed on loan from Arsenal.

Leeds fans will be hoping that this season is the one where they return back to the EPL after losing out last season.

The 33-year-old returned to his former ground with Barnsley. Many expected him to suffer a defeat, which would have been the club’s first in five matches. This was after the club put together an amazing winning run starting from the 2-0 win over Crewe Alexandra towards the end of February. Since the victory, the team has conceded just one goal, which came against Oldham, and have been imperious otherwise. This excellent run of form has seen them move into the play-off places with nine matches left in the season.

Barnsley have suddenly become favourites for a play-off finish due to this good form. It is often said that only teams with momentum can make it into the final stages of play-offs and even get promoted to the next division. If this rule holds true, Barnsley are the best placed in this division. Johnson accepted that the Oldham fans were mixed in their response and this was understandable. However, he admitted that it was always going to be difficult for him returning to one of his previous clubs. Johnson was at the club for two years before joining Barnsley.

“It was tough coming back, to be honest. Winning is what it’s all about and this is a fantastic result, but it was very raw and I just tried to be as professional as I could. The reception was mixed, if I’m being generous, but I understand and I don’t hold that against anyone. I had two fantastic years here at Oldham and people don’t know the full story about me leaving, but for me it’s a new club and a new beginning. The game was passionate and charged,” said Johnson.

Both Danny Drinkwater and Jacob Butterfield are extremely key to Barnsley’s way of playing. Manager Keith Hill said that he was extremely disappointed with the fact that he had to contend without the services of Danny Drinkwater and Jacob Butterfield for quite a while. However, he will have been more than extremely delighted to secure the signings of Korey Smith and Michael Tonge during this difficult time for the club in terms of injuries. Korey Smith has so far seen only limited playing time for Norwich city, and he will be looking forward to getting some much-needed playtime at Barnsley.

So far, he has made just one appearance for Norwich city this season. It came in the 4-0 defeat at the hands of MK dons in the Carling cup earlier in the season. However, Korey Smith was a crucial member of the Norwich city team that secured promotion from the lower leagues a few seasons ago. Barnsley lost their latest match against Millwall in a 3-1 score. However, there are only seven points behind Birmingham city in the Championship.

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