It has been an impressive return to the Championship after 25 years for Oxford United, despite the slight decline in performances in the last two matches. The injuries are building up and the club is finding it more difficult to get wins (winless in their last 7). So, a home game against a struggling Swansea side has probably come at the perfect time. Swansea are now an established Championship team, have been for a while and don’t really threaten relegation or promotion. They just make up numbers unfortunately. They are very much a conundrum this season, with one of the best defences in the entire division – Vigouroux has the second highest save percentage, behind only Michael Cooper of Sheffield United. However, in complete contrast, Swansea have one of the worst attacking outputs of any Championship team, they’re without a goal in the entire month of October, a run spanning 9 hours of football and an incredible total xG of 7.3! a dreadful run, something has got be changed by the stubborn Luke Williams.
This dreadful attacking record comes up against a defence full of confidence, with the established back 4 of Kioso, Moore, Nelson and Brown all in excellent form and full of confidence against some of the best sides in the Championship. You can’t help but think that home advantage, in front of a sold out crowd will make a big difference in this otherwise hard to call affair. It is a huge credit to Des Buckingham, and their start to the season that Oxford are even being given a chance here, against a side so used to the Championship, a side with many international footballers.