OPPONENTS: Oxford United Football Club
MANAGER: Pep Clotet
NICKNAME: The U’s
LEAGUE POSITION: 2nd
THE JOURNEY: Fratton Park to Kassam Stadium – 85 miles – about an hour and a half.
LAST TIME OUT:
* Pompey went 120 minutes against Cardiff, eventually falling to a 2-1 defeat after ex-Blues Mendez-Laing and Halford scored for Cardiff.
* Oxford won 2-0 away to Oldham last Saturday, before losing 4-3 in extra time at home to Cheltenham in the League Cup.
POMPEY STATS:
* Spanning back to last season, Pompey have amassed 34 points from the last 39 available
* The Blues have only conceded 1 goal in their last 3 away games and have kept 5 clean sheets in their last 7 trips away from Fratton.
* Pompey have only failed to score in 2 of their last 20 games, the 3-0 defeat to Stevenage and the 1-0 home loss against Crewe. In those 20 games they have scored 2 or more in 14 of them and 3 or more in 6.
* Top Scorer: Pitman (2)
OXFORD STATS:
* Dating back to the end of last season, Oxford have now won 4 games in a row, scoring at least twice in each match and have not conceded a single goal in those games.
* Despite losing more games (17) than any other team in the top 15 (except Peterborough), Oxford finished 8th in League One last season thanks to their win record (20 wins).
* The U’s had the lowest amount of drawn games in League One (9) – the same amount as Pompey drew in League Two.
* Oxford have only had 2 shots on target in the league this season and they’ve both gone in giving them a 100% shot conversion rate.
* Top Scorers: Wes Thomas & Thomas Ruffels (1)
HEAD TO HEAD (Courtesy of Pompeyrama.com):
* Pompey and Oxford have met 61 times over the last 100 years, with Pompey currently retaining bragging rights with 23 wins to 20 (18 draws).
* Since Pompey’s fall from grace the two sides have met 7 times, with both sides winning twice and the sides sharing a point on 3 occasions.
* The most recent meeting at the Kassam Stadium was less than 2 years ago as Pompey fought back to grab a point thanks to an Adam McGurk goal. Of the 17 members of that match day squad, 6 still remain (Burgess, Davies, Clark, Evans, Bennett, Chaplin).
PLAYED FOR US/PLAYED FOR THEM/SCUMMER WATCH
* Simon Eastwood: Played during our forgettable League One campaign of 2012/13 between the sticks. It took 16 games for him to taste victory.
* Wes Thomas: Joined us on loan from Bournemouth the same season and started like a house on fire with 3 goals in his first 6 games, but was recalled early by Eddie Howe before being loaned out again to Blackpool.
* Mike Williamson: Pompey spent £2-3m on Williamson from Watford, but a lack of opportunities possibly coupled with add-on clauses Pompey couldn’t afford to pay saw him never don the Pompey shirt. He went to Newcastle and became a regular there for 6 seasons before signing with Oxford in the Summer.
* Tareiq Holmes-Dennis: He won’t be available for the rest of the year, so will miss his chance to play against the club where he spent 14 games on loan in 2014/15.
* Danny Rose: Should feature against his old club where he has spent 3 separate spells and amassed 143 appearances.
* Aaron Martin & Mike Williamson have also spent some time down the road, so be sure to remind them of that fact.
ONE TO WATCH:
* Jack Payne: A loan signing from new manager Pep Clotet who played 90 minutes last week. He plays just behind the striker and got both assists in last week’s 2-0 win over Oldham. At 22 years old he’s got a wise head on his shoulders and has got energy to burn.
PREDICTION:
* Pompey come into this one after a tough Tuesday fixture where many of their regular faces started, so fatigue may play a major factor. But similarly Oxford only made 5 changes in midweek and also went the distance. Pompey’s injury list is growing, with Holmes Dennis joining Clarke, Thompson and Lalkovic and Jamal Lowe will be suspended for another 2 games. Although these two sides don’t draw many, I would take a point in what will be a very tough game. I’ll punt for 1-1 with Burgess scoring an equaliser on the hour.
NEXT 5 GAMES:
Sat 19 Aug – Walsall (H)- League One
Sat 26 Aug – Wigan Athletic (A) – League One
Tues 29 Aug – Fulham U21s (H) – Checkatrade Trophy
Sun 3rd Sep – Rotherham (H) – League One
Sat 9th Sep – Wimbledon (A) – League One
PUP
Written by PompeyFrippy and originally posted in the forum.
Follow @VitalPortsmouth.
2017-18 Prediction League – August
Oxford (a) – Saturday 12th August 2017 – click here.
Fulham U21 (h) – Wednesday 16th August 2017 – click here.
Walsall (h) – Saturday 19th August 2017 – click here.
Wigan (a) – Saturday 26th August 2017 – click here.
