Bramall Lane, where we hope a football match will break out on Tuesday (Photo by Arne Müseler from Salzburg)

We’ve already previewed the trip to Sheffield United HERE so we won’t bother going over it again. Suffice to say that a few things have changed since that originally scheduled trip at the start of the year.

For one thing, Oxford have a new manager, with Matt Bloomfield appointed the week after everybody had made a wasted journey to South Yorkshire. There has also been a lot of transfer activity during the January window, especially for the U’s.

Hopefully, this game will get to happen, with the Bramall Lane under-pitch heating not giving up the ghost at the first signs of any potential sub-zero temperatures. I’m still waiting for the Blades bosses to let us know how to reclaim our petrol expenses for the original wasted journey.

On This Date

Games played on 3rd February have not been particularly kind to United, with they Yellows winning just two of the 10 matches they’ve been involved in.

In 1982, under caretaker manager Roy Barry, the Biscuitmen of Reading visited the Manor, where a Mark Jones goal sent them back down the A4074 pointless and goalless (unless they travelled down the A34 and along the M4, or possibly took the A329 route through Pangbourne, or even took the train).

More notably, in 2018 Oxford travelled to the Valley where they beat Charlton Athletic 3-2 thanks to Ryan Ledson’s stoppage-time winner, with United having been behind twice before twice levelling through Todd Kane and James Henry. It’s a result that has gone down in Oxford folklore, as much for the limbs in the away end as for anything else.

Also on 3rd February, in 1999 the U’s were involved in an FA Cup 4th round replay at Stamford Bridge, having been denied a famous home win over Chelsea thanks to a cheating Franck le Boeuf. There was mayhem among the away fans when Phil Gilchrist gave Oxford an unlikely lead, but they were unable to hold on and eventually lost 4-2 to the Premier League side, with Dean Windass scoring United’s second. Loudest cheer of the day was for Denis Wise’s red card.

The most recent 3rd February fixture was two years ago, when Reading were once again the visitors. United were unable to replicate the result from 42 years prior, despite Mark Harris giving Oxford the lead. A Reading equaliser meant honours were even on this occasion.

To see all of Oxford’s 3rd February results, click HERE.

The Game

United come into this rearranged game on the back of a rather disappointing 2-0 defeat by Birmingham City at the Kassam Stadium

There is hope that the injured Jack Currie will be fit to return to the line-up, especially after Matt Phillips disappointed at left wingback and Ciaron Brown’s second-half performance at left-back left something to be desired. With Greg Leigh on the bench, you have to wonder about his failure to get on the pitch, although news just in that Matt Phillips’ contract has been cancelled, which makes you wonder if another left-wing back is coming in, as has been rumoured.

At the time of writing, no further transfer deadline day incomings have been announced (that’s not to say no deals have been done) and just Tom Bradshaw has left the building (bye Tom, nice knowing you). This means a bit of a dilemma for Bloomfield and Ed Waldron, who have to select a squad of 25 over-21 year olds (with all loanees having to be registered). There are now seven loan players in the squad following Saturday’s signing of Christ Makosso, and around 30 players in total eligible for registration.

Presumably Tyler Goodrham (injured for the rest of the season), Jordan Thorniley (returned from his loan at Northampton Town with an injury), and Steph Negru (returned from his loan at Bristol Rovers but linked with a move to Hibernian, where the window is still open for a few more hours) won’t be registered, but there are still a couple of players in excess and rumours that a couple more might yet be incoming.

Which means that it’s difficult to predict the squad that is likely to feature at Bramall Lane on Tuesday night. Michał Helik missed out on Saturday, so it’s possible he won’t be risked, especially with the Makosso signing, while winger Jeon Jin-Woo also missed out with an injury. Brian De Keersmaecker was another injury victim who couldn’t play against Birmingham, so either Jamie McDonnell and/or Yunus Konak could feature again.

At the moment, it’s all guesswork, but if we don’t have a clue, then it’s likely that the Sheffield United analysts will be similarly befuddled. We would hope that the 3-4-3 experiment might be halted after it’s abysmal failure at the weekend, but with a change of personnel who are more used to that system, maybe it might just work.

The Blades drew 1-1 at Millwall on Saturday to leave themselves 17th in the Championship. You may remember that their atrocious start to the season had left them above only Sheffield Wednesday when they came to the Kassam Stadium in September, when they duly picked up their first points of the season with a 1-0 win.

Recent results for Chris Wilder’s side have picked up somewhat, and in their last home game they beat promotion-hopefuls Ipswich Town 3-1 despite having Patrick Bamford sent off. Their transfer activity has included the deadline-day signing of past-it former England striker Kalvin Phillips on loan from Manchester City. He will certainly ‘do a job’ in the Championship and will doubtless hit the ground running if played against the U’s.

Also incoming on deadline day was Leo Hjelde on loan from Sunderland, while on the debit side, Ehije Ukaki has left for Greek side Atromitas on loan until the end of the season.

Could this be another Leicester-style performance from the U’s, or will we be seeing an away version of the Birmingham display? Bearing in mind Wilder’s ability to get one over on us, we’re not optimistic. But then again, we’ve been pessimistic for games against Ipswich and Southampton that we went on to win, so who knows?

Let’s just hope that, whatever happens, it’s game on.

UTFO