This Week's Opposition: Oxford United

Ahead of the big match at Fratton Park, Pompey Live's Kirsty Roxanne takes a closer look at the opponents.

Good Friday rewarded the Blues with a point on the road against Norwich City.

Up next, a massive game awaits as relegation-threatened rivals Oxford United make the visit to Fratton Park.

MANAGER

Matt Bloomfield is the man in charge of The U’s. 

After retiring from the professional game in 2022, he moved into full-time management. Bloomfield started out with Colchester United in League Two before returning to take charge of former club Wycombe Wanderers.

The 42-year-old then spent 9 months with Luton Town until before being appointed head coach of Oxford this January.

He has collected 4 wins and 6 draws from 16 games in charge.

ONE TO WATCH

Number 8, Cameron Brannagan is one to keep tabs on.

An academy graduate of Liverpool, he made his senior debut in 2015. After 9 appearances, Brannagan joined Fleetwood Town on loan before signing for Oxford on a permanent deal the following year.

Brannagan has spent 8 seasons with the club and has bagged himself 6 goals and 3 assists this season.

TOP SCORER

With 8 league strikes and 1 FA Cup goal, Will Lankshear is currently Oxford’s leading scorer.

The striker wears the number 27 shirt and is on a season-long loan from Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur.

The 20-year-old spent the second half of last season on loan at West Bromwich Albion and joined The U’s in the summer, making his debut on the opening day of the season against Pompey.

His last goal came in a 3-1 win away at Preston North End on March 6th and he has since gone 4 matches without finding the back of the net.

CURRENT FORM

Oxford are 1 point behind the Blues but 2 places below in 23rd due to a slightly worse goal difference than Leicester City in 22nd.

Despite presently sitting inside the Championship relegation zone, The U’s have only suffered 1 defeat in their last 6 outings - That by a 2-0 scoreline away at Southampton 2 games ago.

In that period, Matt Bloomfield’s side enjoyed a run of 3 straight victories over West Brom, Preston North End and Blackburn Rovers before recording 1-1 scorelines at home to Charlton Athletic and Hull City, their most recent fixture, either side of that loss at St Mary’s.

The reverse of this fixture came on the opening day of the season at the Kassam Stadium, where Adrian Segečić scored the only goal of the game to help the Blues to a 1-0 victory.

The last time Oxford beat the Blues was over 4 years ago in February 2022.

This is a must win game for John Mousinho's side - Can they beat their relegation-threatened rivals and remain above the drop zone?

Pompey Live on Express FM will be back from 11:30am on Easter Monday (April 6th) with full coverage of Portsmouth vs Oxford United in the Championship - Presented by Jake Smith, Kirsty Roxanne and James Wilson.

Kick-off: 12:30pm!