Reading are certainly in the stronger position to maintain their Championship status after picking up four points from games against top-six sides Bournemouth and Blackburn Rovers before the international break.
Josh Laurent’s stunning goal earned the Royals victory over Rovers, which was only Paul Ince’s second win in six matches as interim manager.
This is the first of three consecutive games against teams in the bottom 10 for Reading, which they should see as a huge opportunity to secure their safety.
However, the Berkshire outfit have the second-worst defence in the Championship and have only won five of their 20 away matches this season.
John Swift scored the only goal of the game as Reading won 1-0 in this season’s reverse fixture against Barnsley at the Select Car Leasing Stadium.
The Tykes’ survival hopes suffered a blow before the international break as they lost 2-0 to South Yorkshire rivals Sheffield United.
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It is now just one win in five matches for Poya Asbaghi’s side, but they are unbeaten in their last five on home turf. Twenty-one of their 28 points this season have come at Oakwell.
Barnsley are the Championship’s lowest scorers this season with just 28 goals from 38 games; they have netted more than twice in a match on only one occasion.
The Yorkshire outfit are winless in their nine most recent meetings with Reading and the Royals have not lost on their last nine visits to Oakwell since defeat there in 1998. Paul Ince was playing for Liverpool at the time, while Poya Asbaghi was just 13 years old
