Cherries enticing at a glum Oakwell
Bournemouth travel to Oakwell to take on rock bottom side Barnsley on Saturday afternoon in hoping to re-ignite their automatic promotion push.
The Cherries have faltered significantly in the last month or so, letting their guard down and allowing Blackburn Rovers to pull the rug to climb into second place.
Scott Parker’s side have now lost two on the bounce, but that is nothing compared to the troubles that the Tykes have faced this season.
Be it Markus Schopp or Poya Asbaghi, Barnsley have looked a shadow of the side that finished fifth last season under Valerien Ismael.
The club have won just two league matches in the whole campaign and do not look likely to reduce the eight point gap between themselves and safety anytime soon.
Process
The Tykes have a terrible attacking process, they have scored 17 from 21.8 expected goals (xG) at an average of 0.84 xGF per game.
Defensively they are not as bad it has to be said, but they would need one of the best backlines in the division to stay up with an offensive process just this bad.
Bournemouth on the other hand, rank fourth on expected points and have one of the best goalscorers in the league in their squad in the form of Dominic Solanke.
There has been an overreaction from the market, seeing that Bournemouth have been feeling the pressure at the top of the table they definitely represent value to get the win at Oakwell.
The Cherries still feel like the most likely to finish in second due to the weight of individual quality in the squad.
Parker will see this match as a change to build some confidence and get back pushing in the right direction.
Goals?
Unders could be tempting as it is the only way Barnsley can get something out of the game.
The Cherries are easily the better side and come up against a demoralised Tykes team and home crowd.
Barnsley have scored in six of ten.
Barnsley have conceded in eight of ten.
Barnsley have seen both teams score in six of ten.
Barnsley have seen over 2.5 goals in six of ten.
Bournemouth have scored in seven of ten.
Bournemouth have conceded in eight of ten.
Bournemouth have seen both teams score in five of ten.
Bournemouth have seen over 2.5 goals in four of ten.
The Cherries are still strong favourites but the price is certainly enticing given the gulf in class between the two sides.
Post bet chat Marcus's Tips:
Philip Billing finished off a bizarre goal to see this one home. 1-0.