Jobi McAnuff delivers his verdict on Barnsley’s chances of catching Reading FC

The Championship relegation battle has been brewing nicely in the last month or so with Barnsley showing signs they can save themselves, despite looking dead and buried for the vast majority of the campaign.

Poya Asbaghi’s methods look to be finally getting across to the players and, particularly at Oakwell, they are a dangerous second tier team again.

Reading won their first game under Paul Ince and threatened to pull away from the drop conversation, but after suffering some heavy losses in recent weeks, confidence has come crashing down once again causing Derby County and Barnsley to keep believing.

Jobi McAnuff explained why he believes that Barnsley are the most likely team to catch the Royals and stay up, when he appeared on The Totally Football League Show.

He said: “The big thing at this stage of the season is form.

“Reading have got a couple of tough games coming up against Bournemouth and Blackburn before they actually face Barnsley.

“If Barnsley can carry on the good form they’ve had, if they pick up a couple more points and close that gap a bit more and have the opportunity to get out at Reading’s expense (when they play each other on 2nd April), psychologically that could be absolutely huge.

“In terms of a team moving in the right direction, even though their still in the bottom three, I’d certainly say Barnsley are the ones at the moment, that look more likely to pick up more points between now and the end of the season than Reading.

“Whether that’ll be enough to get them out, will come down to the game against Reading and the Peterborough game (18th April).”

The Royals have a four point cushion on the bottom three at present with ten games remaining for both sides.

The Verdict

Even with just nine games