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THREE Barnsley stars for Sunderland to be wary of today - including a seriously in-form striker

Whilst Kieffer Moore and Cameron McGheehan are ruled out, Barnsley have an incredibly talented squad with quality right throughout it. Here are their three key players ahead of tonight’s game - and success for Sunderland hinges on stopping them.

SAFC.com

Alex Mowatt

League One Games/Goals: 36/5

One of the best distributors of the ball in the division, Mowatt has produced eight assists this season and has attempted more passes than any other midfielder in League One with a pass completion rate of over 80% - he’s the man that knits the Tykes together, and with Cameron McGheehan suspended, his importance to Barnsley in Tuesday’s mammoth clash is further emphasised.

His eye for the killer pass may dictate he is seen as more of an advanced playmaker, but his industry and energy in the middle also keeps opposition teams away from Barnsley’s final third. He is, by League One standards, a complete box-to-box midfielder. Lee Cattermole and Grant Leadbitter will no doubt have one of the toughest tasks they’ve faced so far this season in attempting to combat him - essential if we are to come away with a win.

Goal-Cam | Alex Mowatt Vs Bradford

⚽️ | Goal-Cam | Alex Mowatt capped off another fine display when he sealed the three points with this strike against Bradford yesterday. #NotJustAGame

Posted by Barnsley Football Club on Saturday, January 12, 2019

Liam Lindsay

League One Games/Goals: 33/0

Comfortable on the floor and in the air, the lanky central defender may not be a popular name but he is quietly becoming one of the best defenders in the third tier.

On first glance, he’s the stereotypical brutish centre-half that are ten a penny in League One, but it’s his ability to spray the ball out from the back that perhaps sets his apart from his counterparts, gaining one of the highest successful pass rates of any defender in the division to reinforce that.

At just 23-year-old the Scottish defender shows composure above his years and his technical ability and added strength makes him a challenge for any League One striker, as proven by the fact he’s won 75% of his defensive challenges this term so far.


Cauley Woodrow

League One Games/Goals: 21/11

In the absence of talisman Kieffer Moore, Woodrow has stepped up to the plate and kept Barnsley on course for a return to the Championship at the first time of asking, with five goals in his last six games.

A highly rated teenager, Woodrow became the first non-League footballer to be capped at youth level for England since the 1970s and Premier League Fulham snapped him up shortly afterwards.

A succession of poor campaigns for the Londoners meant he wasn’t afforded the chances he would have perhaps liked and following a spell of mediocre loan moves, he eventually left the club in August to call Oakwell his permanent home.

Whilst many felt the loss of Moore would benefit ourselves and the promotion hopefuls around Barnsley, the 24-year-old Woodrow is using it as an example to prove us all wrong.

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