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Barnsley v Bolton Wanderers: LIVE

Massive relegation six-pointer from Oakwell

West Ham United v Bolton Wanderers - Carabao Cup Third Round
Filipe Morais gets a start - purely for his ability to take set-pieces
Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images

Bolton Wanderers find themselves embroiled deep in a relegation fight that comes to a head in a battle with fellow scramblers Barnsley at Oakwell this afternoon.

Put simply, Bolton absolutely must win this game today. Leading Barnsley by just two points, having played a game more, losing virtually relegates the Wanderers given their current run of four consecutive defeats and no goal scored in three games.

However, Bolton have a great recent record against Barnsley, losing only one league game against them in 16 meetings since 1994 and winning the last four. But, as we saw against Millwall in midweek, that means nothing.

Absolutely no prizes for guessing how Phil Parkinson plans to play today, and it’s hard to get excited about. There’s zero creativity in the midfield of Karl Henry and Darren Pratley, and Filipe Morais will play in behind a front two of Sammy Ameobi and Adam Le Fondre - but realistically he’s only in the side to take free-kicks and corners. If we start booting long balls at Ameobi again, give me strength. Pratley and David Wheater, meanwhile, both make their 200th appearances for the club.

Barnsley look to be going with a 4-4-2, with Kieffer Moore and Oliver McBurnie leading the line and wide threat from Brad Potts and Adam Hammill.

Here are this afternoon’s starting line-ups. You can follow all the action from Oakwell in the Comments section below, where you can also let us know your thoughts on all things Wanderers related.

Barnsley (4-4-2): Adam Davies; Andy Yiadom, Adam Jackson, Liam Lindsay, Zeki Fryers; Brad Potts, Gary Gardner, George Moncur, Adam Hammill; Kieffer Moore, Oliver McBurnie

Substitutes: Jack Walton, Tom Bradshaw, Lloyd Isgrove, Dimitri Cavaré, Ethan Pinnock, Connor Mahoney, Ryan Hedges

Bolton Wanderers (5-2-1-2): Ben Alnwick; Mark Little, Reece Burke, David Wheater, Mark Beevers, Antonee Robinson; Karl Henry, Darren Pratley; Filipe Morais; Sammy Ameobi, Adam Le Fondre

Substitutes: Aaron Wilbraham, Craig Noone, Will Buckley, Josh Vela, Dorian Dervite, Andrew Taylor, Mark Howard