Nottingham Forest notched up their fourth win on the bounce when beating Newcastle at the weekend while Barnsley made it nine points out of nine with a derby victory at Doncaster Rovers.
New manager Mark Robins has revived the Tykes' fortunes after a poor start to the season and Saturday's match-winner, Adam Hammill, said: "The gaffer's worked on fitness and that showed because we went right to the end again."
"If we win on Tuesday then we're right among the pack again."
Joe Garner's goal settled last season's corresponding fixture in front of nearly 25,000 at the City Ground.