After picking up their first win in nine games on Tuesday night, Oxford United will now be hoping to kick on when they travel to Watford on Friday evening, writes JOE CITRONE.
Despite a disappointing defeat to arch-rivals Luton Town last month, it’s been largely been a pretty positive start to the season for Watford who sit in an impressive sixth-position at the time of writing.
They will need to bounce back from mid-week, though, where they fell to a 1-0 defeat to Swansea City where a first-half strike from former Chelsea midfielder Myles Peart-Harris condemned the Hornets to defeat.
That 6-2 hammering of Sheffield Wednesday a few days prior shows what this Watford team is capable of, though, and what Oxford will need to keep an eye on.
Watford v Oxford United
Championship
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LAST FIVE STATS
HEAD-TO-HEAD
SEP 2020 LEAGUE CUP Oxford 1-1 Watford
MAR 1999 LEAGUE DIVISION 1 Oxford 0-0 Watford
NOV 1998 LEAGUE DIVISION 1 Watford 2-0 Oxford
JAN 1997 FA CUP Watford 2-0 Oxford
MAR 1994 LEAGUE DIVISION 1 Watford 2-1 Oxford
WATFORD
NOV 2024 CHAMPIONSHIP Swansea 1-0 Watford
NOV 2024 CHAMPIONSHIP Sheffield Wednesday 2-6 Watford
OCT 2024 CHAMPIONSHIP Watford 1-0 Blackburn
OCT 2024 CHAMPIONSHIP Leeds 2-1 Watford
OCT 2024 CHAMPIONSHIP Luton 3-0 Watford
OXFORD UNITED
NOV 2024 CHAMPIONSHIP Oxford 1-0 Hull
NOV 2024 CHAMPIONSHIP Oxford 1-2 Swansea
OCT 2024 CHAMPIONSHIP Sunderland 2-0 Oxford
OCT 2024 CHAMPIONSHIP Oxford 1-1 Derby
OCT 2024 CHAMPIONSHIP Oxford 1-1 West Brom
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Oxford United’s run of nine matches without a win came to an end on Tuesday night as, thanks to a second-half strike from Dutch wing-back Hidde Ter Avest, the U’s edged Hull City 1-0 at the Kassam Stadium.
Although there were some respectable draws in that winless run against sides like West Bromwich Albion and Burnley, it will have come as a big relief to Des Buckingham and co; especially after their disappointing defeat to Swansea City just a few days prior.
They will now be hoping to kick on, but have to contend with their mounting injury list growing even further with midfielder Louie Sibley being ruled out for up to six weeks and on-loan defender Ben Nelson forced off during that victory over Hull City on Tuesday night.
That leaves Buckingham with very little choice in terms of personnel for Friday’s encounter with Watford, but it will be interesting to see if he sticks with the 3-5-2 system he deployed on Tuesday night or reverts back to his favoured 4-3-3 formation.
Either way, Ter Avest is likely to keep his place in the side after he scored the winning goal on Tuesday in his first start for the club since arriving from Dutch side Utrecht on a free transfer in the summer.
Thanks in no small part to the goalkeeping of Jamie Cumming, Oxford have been able to keep the goals down in recent weeks with fewer than three goals in five of their last six matches. Their away form will likely let them down, though, and that’s why I like the look of Watford and under 2.5 goals at 7/2 with starsports.bet.
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