Matt Bruce

Oxford United face deadly rivals Swindon Town for the first time since December 2002 on Sunday. Oxford find themselves above Swindon in the league for the first time since September 2000, after picking up their first win of the season on Tuesday, beating Shrewsbury Town 2-0.

Centre backs Jake Wright and Michael Duberry look set to continue their partnership in defence and Liam Davis is likely to continue at left back, as Tony Capaldi is still out injured. There is good competition for places elsewhere. Peter Leven and Paul MacLaren have both returned to action in midfield after injuries and, as a result, Andrew Whing was moved to right back to replace Damien Batt for the Bradford and Shrewsbury games – this looks likely to be the case again on Sunday. Chris Wilder has a tough decision to make up front, with almost a full selection of strikers to choose from. Tom Craddock is the only injury and looks likely to be out for another three weeks, so Lewis Guy, currently on loan from Milton Keynes, may start again this weekend.

Swindon were top of the league after their first match, beating Crewe 3-0 on the opening day, but any hopes they had of strolling through this season will have been muted on their subsequent travels. Last Saturday they were beaten 1-0 away at Cheltenham Town and lost by the same scoreline on Tuesday when they visited Dagenham and Redbridge. They have had a busy summer, appointing Paolo Di Canio as their new manager to much media fanfare, following their relegation to Division Four at the end of last season. New signings this season have had a rather international flavour, including a Namibian, an Algerian and several Italians. However, some of their new acquisitions were criticised after defeat in Dagenham and Di Canio has already stated his intention to ring the changes for Sunday.

Recent events have added extra spice to this fixture. In the build up to last Saturday's match at home to Bradford it was revealed that someone had broken into Oxford's stadium in the early hours of the morning and burnt the letters 'SFTC' into the pitch, while Di Canio has claimed in the media that the Tottenham-supporting James Constable is in fact a Swindon fan.

The last time the two clubs met was in the FA Cup in 2002, when United won 1-0 thanks to a headed goal from Jefferson Louis. This remains the only time the Yellows have hosted Swindon at Grenoble Road, giving them a 100% record at the ground against the Robins. United's record away at the County Ground is not so good, having not won there for 38 years, but with league position and current form on their side chances look good for that particular record to be consigned to history.

[@opponent]Swindon Town[/@opponent][@connection]Swindon Town[/@connection]