Oxford United
Oxford are 5th in League One with 46 points from 25 games. They are 6th in the form table with 3 wins, 1 draw, and 2 losses. They sit in 7th in the table for their away games. They have a +2 goal difference on the road, generally scoring, but also generally conceding.
Out of the 42 goals they have scored, it has been from 31.4 expected. Generally, this means that their forwards are good, or they've been on a hot streak.
Oxford have also been awarded the most penalties in League One this season with 6, and Brannagan has scored all of them, he's their top scorer with 7 in total. Their other attacking threat is Rodrigues, who they signed from Notts County in the summer, he has 6 goals and 2 assists this season.
Oxford has had quite a busy winter on the signings front, these include:
Incomings / Extensions / Injury Returns
GK Jamie Cumming from Chelsea on loan till the end of the season. At 24 he's made over 150 EFL appearances while on loan at different clubs.
FW Tyler Burey from Odense is on loan till the end of the season. Ex Millwall, making 42 appearances for them last season.
LB Joe Bennett signed an extension as his short-term contract ended this winter. He's a squad player.
LB Greg Leigh is returning from injury for Oxford and is reported as being available at the weekend. He's made 11 appearances this season and scored 5 goals but has not played since early November.
FW Tyler Goodrham has signed a contract extension with Oxford after making 23 appearances this season, scoring 4 goals and making 3 assists.
Outgoings
FW Stan Mills who is on loan from Everton has returned after he was injured for the rest of the season in a game against Coventry. He'd made 21 appearances this season and will be a miss for Oxford.
GK James Beadle has returned to Brighton after being on loan with Oxford this season and making 25 appearances this season. He's been immediately loaned to Sheffield Wednesday. He's highly thought of, and it has got to be a positive that we will be playing Oxford with a new loanee keeper in goal.
FW Kyle Edwards has returned to his parent club after making 6 appearances.
SK Sonny Perkins returns to his parent club after making 3 appearances.
Injured Players
FW Joe Murphy has made 12 appearances this season.
RB Sam Long has made 13 appearances this season.
CB Stephan Negru has made 8 appearances this season.
Our Line Up and Tactics
My line has Lewis making his debut in goal. And, if Huntington is fit, for me he has to start, we need to bring some experience into the team. The wingbacks deserve another chance. As does Gibson, who hopefully wants to make up his lapse in concentration vs Exeter. The final slightly controversial pick is Edmondson to start, this is due to the intensity he offers off the ball. Maguire isn't doing it for me at the moment, and it is likely Garner and Armstrong are deemed too similar, even though against Exter we looked most dangerous when they were on the pitch together. Maybe that was a mentality thing, mind you.
What I want to see us do is play with an attacking mindset from the first minute. I want to see us be on the front foot, pressing and winning duels. There have been too many occasions this season where we've sat back, tried to solid, and conceded. We're at home playing a team going for promotion, what is there to lose? We need to go on a run and win some home games.
My prediction is that we will win 2-1 with goals from Armstrong and Moxon.
Up The Blues.
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