Barnsley v Bournemouth free betting tips: Sky Bet Championship best bets and preview

Recommended bets

2pts Both teams to score at 5/6

1pt Barnsley double chance and BTTS at 9/5

0.5pt Alex Mowatt to score from outside the box at 14/1

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Barnsley v Bournemouth

• 17:30 GMT on Sky Sports Football
• Match odds: Home 13/5 | Draw 12/5 | Away 21/20

Barnsley should head into this game full of confidence. Goals from Cauley Woodrow and Callum Styles completed a deserved late turnaround at Birmingham in midweek to record a fifth win in eight games under Valerien Ismael.

When Gerhard Struber, the mastermind behind their dramatic escape from Sky Bet Championship relegation last term, left to join New York Red Bulls in October, the Tykes seemed destined for another season of struggle; they've lost only three times in 11 league games since.

Just one of those losses, 3-0 to Cardiff, was deserved too. Blackburn's 2-1 win last weekend was, by Rovers boss Tony Mowbray's own admission, daylight robbery, and a 1-0 defeat by Brentford should have ended goalless.

So for Ismael's side to be heading into this one at 3/1 for victory looks overpriced in the extreme.

But they are playing a Bournemouth side who have lost only once away from home this season, will go top with a point and who only a few short months ago were a Premier League outfit.

The Cherries lost at home in the Championship for the first time this term on Tuesday, swept aside by Preston, with late consolation goals from Junior Stanislas and Sam Surridge providing a softer 3-2 scoreline. It followed up a 2-2 draw at newly-promoted Rotherham, who Jason Tindall's side would have expected to beat.

With only two defeats so far, what has prevented Bournemouth from pulling clear at the top is their six draws.

The Cherries have won just twice away from the Vitality, sharing the points on four occasions. It's 5/2 for that to happen at Oakwell, and given that Tindall's men have won only one of their past five on the road it's far more tempting than the evens on offer for an away win. But what really interests me is their lack of an away clean sheet.

Only once have both teams failed to score during a Bournemouth away game, so the 5/6 on offer for that to happen looks a smart play to a good stake. Barnsley have conceded just one goal in their past three home games though, which is why that price isn't much below evens.

Only Blackburn have scored more than the Cherries this season, and they have found the net in 13 of 15 league matches. I don't think the Tykes will keep them out, but I do think the value is in backing goals, and an upset.

Taking Barnsley in the double chance with BTTS is 9/5 with Betway, and it's a price I like.

Alex Mowatt has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the Tykes' managerial change, freed up by first caretaker boss Adam Murray, and then Ismael to play a more attacking role in central midfield.

He scored from distance against both Millwall and Watford, the types of strikes that had been in his trademark under former head coach Daniel Stendel. Of his 28 goals in the EFL, 18 have come from outside the box.

The Barnsley captain is 8/1 to score anytime, but 14/1 with Sky Bet to score from distance is where I'm headed.

I wouldn't be surprised to see team-mate Callum Styles bag from distance, having done so in two of the home side's past three matches, but surely that will make Bournemouth wary of him being given space.

That should give Mowatt more room to let fly, and potentially deliver at a big price. It helps that the former Leeds man takes the Tykes' free-kicks, too.

Score prediction: Barnsley 1-1 Bournemouth (Sky Bet odds: 11/2)

Best bets:

• Both teams to score at 5/6
• Barnsley double chance and BTTS at 9/5
• Alex Mowatt to score from outside the box at 14/1

Odds correct at 1200 GMT (03/12/20)

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