Two previews for the price of one as we look ahead to United vs Middlebrough in the Championship and United vs Luton in the Women’s FA Cup this weekend.

Action from a pre-season tour to Spain in 2017 when Oxford played Middlesbrough

Middlesbrough is one of those teams (like so many others) that hold a curse over the U’s. In total, Oxford have won just five of the 29 meetings between the sides, with three wins out of 14 games in Oxford.

United haven’t beaten Boro since a John Durnin inspired 3-1 win at the Manor if February 1990 (that’s almost 26 years, in case you were wondering and couldn’t be arsed to do the maths).

Last season, almost exactly one year to the day, it all started so brightly for the U’s as Greg Leigh gave us the lead. Then it all went disastrously wrong as the visitors tore us a new one and rammed six past the hapless Oxford defence, with just a Dane Scarlett goal in response.

Check out United’s record against Middlesbrough HERE.

On This Day

The stats don’t get much better if you try to take solace in other results on 22nd November games, with just three wins for the Yellows over the 12 games. The good news is that they all came at home, including the previous time United had a game on this date, in 2016 against Gillingham.

The first time Oxford had a 22nd November win was against Aldershot in 1980 in the first round of the FA Cup, thanks to Peter Foley’s goal.

The Game

Given that the stats against Boro don’t make for pleasant reading, it’s also fair to say that the actual game itself doesn’t look particularly promising.

Middlesbrough are second in the Championship, although they have lost twice on the road, against Portsmouth and, recently, Watford. They are also managerless following Rob Edwards’ decision to abandon Boro for the riches challenge of taking over at the Premier League’s bottom club Wolverhampton Wanderers, who may well be swapping places with each other next season.

Taking caretaker charge of the Teessiders is former Oxford player Adi Viveash, who will have to do without centre back George Edmundson and Ivorian Abdoulaye Kanté. There are also doubts over defender Dael Fry, who suffered a reaction to a calf injury against Birmingham City before the international break.

Oxford will be without Matt Phillips, who received a long-term injury against Leicester City over two months ago, while right-back Brodie Spencer isn’t expected to be ready to return for another couple of weeks.

Jack Currie missed the last couple of games but could be ready to play this weekend, but no one seems to know Hidde ter Avest’s current status. None of the four U’s players called up for international duty were injured while away, and Filip Krastev even scored the winning goal for Bulgaria in their 2-1 victory over Georgia, while a foul on Ciaron Brown saw Northern Ireland awarded the penalty that led to their 1-0 win against Luxembourg.

We’re not stupid here, so we’re not going to predict anything outlandish. United do tend to play better against the top sides that try to play football and they are capable of grabbing an unlikely result, especially at home. It’s just that we don’t think they’re going to. I would love to plump for a plucky draw, but unfortunately I can’t see the side breaking the Boro hoodoo this time around. I think the visitors will nick a win in a tight game. I would love to be proven wrong.

Oxford United Women Take on Luton

The day after the Boro game, Oxford United Women are in WFA action at home to Luton Town. Home in this case being Oxford City’s MGroup Stadium (Court Place Farm, as was). It’s part of a double-header, with Oxford City at home to that lot down the A420 following United’s game, with the Yellows kicking off at the earlier time of 12 noon on Sunday.

United have already played Luton this season as the side from the South East Division were in Oxford’s group in the League Cup. The U’s won that game 4-0 to advance to the knock-out stages.

Under new (returning) manager Liam Gilbert, the side will hopefully put on a performance to usher in this new era and so there should be plenty of goals going into the Hatters’ net. The Yellows have just lost their last three league games, so will be hoping that the cup will be a good distraction from their league woes.

And if you want to hang around after United’s game, you can cheer on the Hoops as they take on Swindon. Should be fun to watch both Oxford sides in action in quick succession, hopefully with two wins to cheer.