Barnsley v Chelsea Preview
By Andrew Symcox
February 11 2021
The two teams have met a total of 34 times since 1905, the vast majority in Division 2 ( now Championship). Barnsley have won 11 of these, Chelsea winning 18 with 5 games drawn.
When the Reds were in the Premier League (1997-98), they lost both league matches to
Chelsea, 0-6 at Stamford Bridge & 0-2 at Oakwell.
We also lost away to the Blues in
September 2020 0-6 in this season’s League Cup. So .... are things looking a little bleak for
the South Yorkshire club?
Well, perhaps not as much as the above previous results might suggest.
In the FA Cup, Barnsley have played Chelsea on only 2 occasions, both at Oakwell, in 1989 &
2008.
The first one of these was in the 3rd round & the Reds won 4-0! I was there with over 13,000
fans to witness Gwyn Thomas, Steve Agnew (2) & the mercurial David Currie score the goals
to send Chelsea home well beaten.
The 2nd match in 2008 was in the quarter finals when the Reds won 1-0 thanks to a header
from Kayode Odejayi from a Martin Devaney pinpoint cross. I was one of the 22,000 going
crazy when the goal went in & even crazier when the final whistle blew to dump the mighty
Chelsea out of the cup.
So .... can FA Cup history repeat itself? We have a 100% FA Cup record!
With a new manager (Tuchel) getting Chelsea back into winning ways, it'll be a big ask for our
South Yorks club.
However, anything can happen in the FA Cup.
Expect the unexpected?
1-0 to the Reds again? That'd do