📏 Form Guide

Oxford United

LWLWLD

Oxford United prepare for this match coming off the back of a 1-1 Championship drawn game versus Cardiff City.

In that match, Oxford United had 39% possession and 2 shots at goal with 1 on target. The scorer for Oxford United was Cameron Brannagan (79'). For their opponents, Cardiff City had 12 attempts on goal with 3 on target. Yousef Salech (56') scored for Cardiff City.

Gary Rowett's Oxford United have hit the back of the net 5 times in their past six outings. The tally of goals that have been scored against them in those same fixtures amounts to 7.

Leading up to this clash, Oxford United:

• have left without a victory over Sunderland in their previous 13 league games. A shocking run, it really is.
• haven’t won at home in the past 2 matches in the league.

Sunderland

WWDLLL 📉

Following on from being beaten in their last game against Blackburn Rovers in Championship action, Sunderland will be hoping to turn things around here.

In that game, Sunderland had 58% possession and 16 shots on goal with 2 of them on target. On the other side, Blackburn Rovers got 2 shots at goal with 1 of them on target. Tyrhys Dolan (33') scored for Blackburn Rovers.

A run of outstanding displays from the Sunderland defensive unit has resulted in their ‘goals against’ tally standing at 4 from their last 6 clashes overall. Over that same period, their forwards have scored 3. Such a pattern isn’t assured to be continued into this next game, though.

Looking at the pre-match facts, Sunderland:

• are undefeated by Oxford United when they've played them away from home in the last 8 league games. What a record that is.
• have not won away from home in their last 2 league matches.

👥 Head to head

Checking on their past head to head meetings stretching back to 15/02/2020 shows that these fixtures have not been kind to Oxford United. They’ve not been able to get themselves any victories whatsoever while Sunderland have been superior, running out winners in 83% of those matches played.

A sum of 14 goals were scored between the two sides in these games, with 3 from The U's and 11 belonging to The Black Cats. The average number of goals per game works out to 2.33.

The previous league contest featuring these sides was Championship match day 12 on 26/10/2024 when it ended Sunderland 2-0 Oxford United.

That time, Sunderland had 64% possession and 13 attempts on goal with 6 of them on target. Goals were scored by Jobe Bellingham (16') and Wilson Isidor (63').

At the other end, Oxford United had 5 attempts at goal with 2 on target.

The referee was Oliver Langford.

🗞️ Team News: Oxford United

We are thinking that The U's will possibly use a 4-2-3-1 system, beginning the first half with Jamie Cumming, Sam Long, Michal Helik, Ben Nelson, Joseph Bennett, Will Vaulks, Cameron Brannagan, Przemyslaw Placheta, Alex Matos, Tyler Goodrham and Mark Harris.

📰 Team News: Sunderland

Sunderland manager Régis Le Bris has to choose from a squad that has some fitness concerns. Aji Alese (Broken leg), Daniel Ballard (Hamstring injury) and Niall Huggins (Knee surgery) won’t be making appearances.

There’s a good chance that The Black Cats seem likely to make use of a 4-2-3-1 system, giving starts to Anthony Patterson, Trai Hume, Chris Mepham, Luke O'Nien, Joe Anderson, Dan Neil, Jobe Bellingham, Patrick Roberts, Enzo Le Fée, Tom Watson and Wilson Isidor.

🔮 Prediction

We’re inclined to think that Sunderland and Oxford United may well both score, with little between these two teams.

There should be little in it, and a draw looks to be quite a realistic result. We therefore see a very even match with a 1-1 score after 90 minutes.

Renata Leite, 13:02 26/04/2025