Preview: Oldham Athletic vs. Barrow - prediction, team news, lineups

Two early strugglers in League Two meet on Saturday as Oldham Athletic host Barrow at Boundary Park.

Both sides return to league action after differing fortunes in the EFL Trophy in midweek, with Oldham victorious in their tie and Barrow losing out on penalties.

Match preview

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Despite coming into this weekend positioned in 23rd place in League Two, the hosts Oldham will be in positive spirits after recent results and performances.

After losing all of their opening four league matches by just the one goal, The Latics finally tasted victory in League Two last weekend away to newly-promoted Sutton United.

Late goals, including a 96th-minute winner from Junior Luamba, saw Oldham overturn a 1-0 deficit to earn a 2-1 win at the Borough Sports Ground.

Whilst league action had been full of doom and gloom up until last weekend, Keith Curle's side have been unstoppable in cup action.

Penalty shootout victories, over fellow League Two side Tranmere Rovers and then League One opponents Accrington Stanley, have set up a trip to Premier League newcomers Brentford in the third round of the EFL Cup.

Following on from those successes, Oldham faced Salford City in an EFL Trophy tie in midweek and were victorious by a 1-0 margin to continue their resurgence in the last couple of weeks.

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Meanwhile, despite heading into the weekend five places above their opponents, Barrow's mood will be far worse than their hosts'.

Since winning two of their opening three matches in all competitions at the start of the new season, this weekend's visitors have now played five matches without tasting victory.

However, a 2-2 draw away from home in the EFL Trophy to League One side Accrington Stanley in midweek was at least a positive result, even if they did lose on penalties.

Their last action in the league last weekend could also be viewed as a positive from one point of view. A 1-1 draw at home to Bristol Rovers could be viewed as a success when you consider that Barrow were down to 10 men from the 31st minute, and even equalised and created chances whilst being a man down.

One certain positive that Barrow can take into the weekend encounter with Oldham is that they did at least win on their trip to Boundary Park last season, which was their first league trip to their hosts since 1971.

Team News

Oldham manager Keith Curle made six changes from the victory over Sutton for the midweek cup tie with Salford, but with his side winning both encounters he will have some tough decisions to make.

The hosts did not make any signings on transfer deadline day so there are no new faces for the manager to consider since the cup win last time out.

However, Andrea Badan did depart the club after having his contract terminated by mutual consent.

As for the visitors, they did manage to make two new signings on transfer deadline day - Robbie Gotts and Jordan Stevens both arrived from Leeds United on permanent deals.

The duo were not signed in time for the cup tie in midweek, but will be pushing to be included for the trip to Oldham.

Like their hosts at the weekend, Barrow also made six changes for their tie with Accrington as manager Mark Cooper looked to rotate his squad and give opportunities to fresh legs in his injury-hit squad.

Oldham Athletic possible starting lineup:
Leutwiler; Clarke, Piergianni, Diarra; Fage, Whelan, Vaughan, Hart; Bahamboula, Luamba; Hope

Barrow possible starting lineup:
Farman; Brown, Jones, Grayson; Hutton, Banks, White, Kay, Brough; Gordon, Zanzala

We say: Oldham Athletic 1-0 Barrow

We think Oldham will just manage to edge out their opponents on Saturday after their recent turnaround in form. With home advantage and Barrow's struggles added to that as well, we can see a narrow 1-0 victory for the home side in a tight affair.