MATCH PREVIEW: OXFORD UNITED V BURNLEY

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Clarets travel to Oxford for first encounter in over 20 years

2024-09-27T19:00:00.000Z

MATCH PREVIEW: OXFORD UNITED V BURNLEY

Clarets travel to Oxford for first encounter in over 20 years

2024-09-27T19:00:00.000Z

Clarets travel to Oxford for first encounter in over 20 years

Burnley head to the Kassam Stadium on Saturday afternoon (3pm) as the Clarets take on Oxford United in the Sky Bet Championship, in a first meeting between the two sides since 2000.

Scott Parker's side will be looking to continue their impressive form, which has seen back-to-back wins over Leeds United and Portsmouth following the September international break.

The Clarets head to Oxford in 3rd place in the Championship table after taking 13 points from the first six games of the 2024/25 campaign, whilst Saturday's opponents sit 9th with nine points, with the U's winning their first three home games of the season.

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How to watch

Tickets for the visit to Oxford are completely sold out and unavailable to purchase online or at the ticket office.

The game will not be shown live on any UK broadcast channel, but to find out the EFL rightsholders countries showing the game live click here

Live audio commentary will be available as usual via Clarets+ from 2:45pm on the day.

Full match highlights, goals and interviews will be available to view after the match on Clarets+ and across all social media channels.

Click here to view all our Clarets+ packages.

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The opposition

Following promotion to League Two in 2010 from the Conference Premier, United spent six seasons in the fourth tier, before a 2nd place finish in the 2015/16 campaign saw Oxford reach League One.

The U's secured an 8th place finish in their first season, before two unsuccessful shots at promotion via the play-offs in the 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons.

Oxford then survived relegation from League One in 2022/23 by two points, before a 5th place finish saw United in the play-offs once again, but this time they were successful.

After defeating Peterborough over two legs in the semi-finals, Des Buckingham's side then saw off Bolton Wanderers at Wembley to seal their place in the Championship for the 2024/25 campaign.

United bolstered their squad over the summer with the arrivals of Matt Phillips, Louie Sibley, Will Vaulks, Przemyslaw Placheta, Hidde ter Avest, Jamie Cumming and Marselino Ferdinan as free transfers.

Buckingham also captured the signatures of AFC Wimbledon full-back Jack Currie, Rotherham defender Peter Kioso and Ipswich Town midfielder Idris El Mizouni, Birmingham's Siriki Dembele and Hull City goalkeeper Matt Ingram.

Oxford got off to a dream start with an opening day victory over Norwich City and remain unbeaten at home with wins over Preston North End and Stoke City.

Defeats to Coventry City, Blackburn Rovers and Bristol City away from home currently sees United sit 9th in the Championship table ahead of Saturday.

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In the dugout

Oxford-born Des Buckingham began his coaching career with Oxford United at just 18-years-old coaching the academy sides, before progressing to a first team coach in 2013 under then-boss Chris Wilder.

A move to New Zealand then saw Buckingham take up the role as a coach with Wellington Phoenix and he went on to spend three years there in total, becoming the youngest Manager in A League history, when taking interim charge in January 2017.

Buckingham returned to England that summer to take up the role of assistant manager of Stoke City U23s, before heading back to New Zealand the following year to work with the Kiwis' national team and U20s side.

Following three successful years with the 'All Whites' and winning New Zealand Football's Men Coach of the Year in 2020, Buckingham then joined Melbourne City for a brief spell as assistant coach, with a move to Mumbai City as Head Coach in October 2021.

The former U's academy player spent two seasons in India, which saw him voted Coach of the Year by the Indian Players Football Association in his second year, before his hometown return was announced in November last year.

Buckingham guided the U's to promotion in his first season at the Kassam Stadium and is now leading the side in the second tier for the first time in 25 years.

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Last time we met

15/04/2000 - Oxford United 1 - 2 Burnley (Manor Ground)

Burnley: Crichton, Cox, Davis, Thomas, West (Weller 71), Johnrose, Cook (Wright 71), Mellon, Payton, Branch, Smith (Lee HT)

Oxford United: Knight, Robinson, Watson, Whelan, Powell, Newton, Tait, Cook, Anthrobus, Lilley, Murphy

Goals: Murphy 13', Davis 85', Weller 90'

Attendance: 7,549

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What Scott Parker said

"Look, it's a tough game ahead for us, it will be a tough challenge down there.

"They have had three home games and won all three, so we're under no illusions of the challenge we face going there this weekend.

"They've got some real quality players with real threat going forward and we have to be aware of that especially with them being at home, whilst also trying to look where we can hurt them and get a positive result.

"Confidence and morale is quite high, we have had a couple of good results recently, but that doesn't affect or change anything going into this weekend.

"We now have to back the recent wins up. It's been a really good week of training for us, we've put some really good work into the lads and we have made use of having no midweek game. We have also been mindful of next week and the quick turnaround.

"The main aim for me now is putting out the best possible team on Saturday to help get us three points."