Barnsley – Walsall – Thomas Giles prediction

Barnsley’s turnaround since the new year is one of the best stories of the Football League this season. At the turn of the year they were facing the prospect of relegation and had lost their manager, Lee Johnson, to Bristol City. However, somehow they managed to sneak into the playoff places ahead of Scunthorpe on goal difference after an impressive 4-1 win against champions Wigan Athletic.

Walsall had the chance to go up on the final day but a 5-0 victory against Port Vale (which I had a winning tip on) on the final day of the season was not enough as results did not go their way. However, Walsall will be determined to make sure they win promotion to the Championship after an impressive season.

This is a somewhat unique situation in that both of these clubs are managed by non-permanent managers with Paul Heckingbottom at Barnsley and Jon Whitney at Walsall which is likely to motivate them even further for these two playoff matches.

As previously mentioned, Barnsley’s form since the turn of the year and their decent home record have been exceptional, however, Walsall are my go to team at the moment. I cannot believe that the bookies have not picked up on the Saddlers’ good form and I was hardly surprised when my 7.41 winner came through last weekend.

Walsall are one of the best footballing sides in the division and will be high on confidence so for this match I have decided to go for two single tips. Firstly I have gone for a Walsall win at 3.10 and for Walsall to score more than 1.5 goals at 2.80 meaning that even a narrow 2-1 victory for the Saddlers will win you the money.  Overall this would give you accumulator odds of 8.68 if it were offered. The bookies underestimate the Saddlers once again!