Wrexham vs Barnsley: Team news, form guide, predicted line-ups
Wrexham can stretch their unbeaten run at the Racecourse Ground to 10 matches when they host Barnsley on Tuesday.
Back-to-back home victories have Phil Parkinson’s side in second after narrowly defeating Lincoln City in midweek, while Barnsley are in the final play-off position in sixth following a 2-2 draw with Reading.
It will be the first time these teams have met since April 2005 (2-2 draw).
Wrexham’s defensive numbers at home
Goals have not come quite as easily for the Red Dragons in League One, netting one or fewer in five of their six competitive fixtures last month.
At the back, however, they’ve been particularly compact, with six clean sheets in nine home games while allowing fewer goals than anyone at home (four).
Their victory over Lincoln City was the 10th time domestically this season that they avoided conceding, doubling their output from their previous League One campaign in 2004-05.
Callum Burton has been aided by a well-organised backline over the past two fixtures, with Max Cleworth, Eoghan O’Connell and Lewis Brunt enabling him to record consecutive clean sheets.
Balanced attacks
One thing both of these teams have going for them is balance across the board.
They’ve each scored 26 times in 17 league games, with nine different players on Darrell Clarke’s side finding the back of the net in 2024-25. As for Wrexham, 10 players have scored at least once in the competition.
The key men
There are two players on each side that have been a big part of their goals so far in the campaign.
On the Wrexham side, Ryan Barnett leads the league with six assists per footystats, with Barnsley’s skipper Luca Connell boasting four himself, while his expected goals is at 2.58. Wrexham’s back end will need to keep tabs on him on Tuesday.
Barnett has seven goal involvements in League One this season with a high expected assists rate of 5.74.
Elliot Lee’s record against his former club
Wrexham’s Elliott Lee had a brief spell with Barnsley, featuring in six Championship games for them in 2016-17 before moving to Luton Town.
Since departing the Tykes, he’s only lost one of the six matches against them that he’s featured in when Blackpool lost 4-2 at Oakwell in 2015.
Injury News
Wrexham’s leading scorer, Jack Marriott, remains out with a broken fibula, Arthur Okonkwo has a wrist fracture, and George Evans is dealing with torn ankle ligaments.
James Jones and Luke Bolton suffered foot and calf injuries in mid-November, while Steven Fletcher remains a question mark because of knee problems, although he has returned to the grass for specialised training.
Josh Benson has returned to training for Barnsley, with Max Watters projected to return in about a week.
Meanwhile, Kyran Lofthouse was left on the bench last week due to his ability to play higher-up and cover both wing-back options, according to his coach.
Predicted XIs
Wrexham XI: Burton; Cleworth, O’Connell, Brunt; Barnett, Dobson, Cannon, Rathbone, McClean; Lee; Palmer
Barnsley XI: Killip; de Gevigney, Roberts, Earl; Lofthouse, Phillips, Connell, Russell, Gent; Humphrys, Keillor-Dunn
