Overview
Argyle head into Saturday’s match with Oxford in eighth place, yes, eighth! Now clearly overachieving, Adams’ men are aiming to finish as high as possible and they head into the weekend after a fantastic February so far. After overcoming Blackburn, Shrewsbury and Wimbledon, the Pilgrims will look to make it four out of four in February and put Oxford away.
Oxford, sit comfortably in mid-table. 13th and 6 points behind Argyle with one game in hand. A win against high flying Argyle, would certainly be a step in the right direction into turning their season around, one that has stalled since the injury of former green Curtis Nelson in November. Like the last opponents Wimbledon, the opposition go into this on poor form. Oxford head into the game without a win in February and will need to turn that around if they want to have any outside chance of push for the play-offs.
Predicted line-ups
Oxford have been playing a similar team in recent weeks and I think they’ll stick with it against Argyle and yet to appoint a new permanent manager after the sacking of Pep Clotet last month, are unlikely to make any wholesale changes.
(4-2-3-1) Eastwood; Kane, Mousinho, Dickie, Smith-Brown; Rothwell, Ruffels; Buckley-Ricketts, Ledson, Henry; Thomas
I fully expect Adams to keep the same line up- as much as there is a case to be made for rotation, Argyle’s form is spectacular at the moment.
(4-3-3) Matthews; Threlkeld, Vyner, Bradley, Sawyer; Sarcevic, Fox, Ness; Lameiras, Taylor, Carey
Head-to-head
The two sides have met 46 times with Oxford winning 21 times to Argyle’s 12.
Argyle haven’t beaten Oxford since Boxing Day 2013 with a 3-2 win away from home in League 2.
These two have met at least once every year since 2011, with Oxford being something of a bogey team for Argyle to face: the Boxing Day thriller being Argyle’s only victory over Oxford within that time period.
Writer’s comments
Despite Oxford’s form not being great and Argyle’s being fantastic. Oxford do have an element about them that I fear somewhat. Their squad looks good on paper for this league and whilst they aren’t getting the results at the moment, it could be a case of only needing one result to turn their form around. I can see it being tight and either a draw or Argyle just edging it. If pushed, 1-0 Argyle.