Skip to main content Skip to site footer
Club News

OXFORD UNITED (HOME) - FIVE TALKING POINTS

12 April 2017

Club News

OXFORD UNITED (HOME) - FIVE TALKING POINTS

12 April 2017

Stuart McCall's Bantams entertain Oxford United at the Northern Commercials Stadium on Good Friday (14 April 2017) in their penultimate home fixture of the regular league campaign.

Ahead of the Oxford encounter, www.bradfordcityfc.co.uk takes a look at five possible talking points this Friday.

1. The battle continues!
Following last Saturday's victory at Bury, City now have just four games left of the regular league campaign to go. The Bury victory was certainly a boost for City but McCall's men will know that the job is far from done just yet. Can City strengthen their play-off chances further and make it three league wins on the trot when they host Oxford on Friday?

2. Third time lucky for City?
This Friday's Easter encounter will be City's third match with Oxford this season, and the first at the Northern Commercials Stadium. The Bantams have actually visited Oxford's Kassam Stadium three times during the 2016/2017 campaign so far. The first trip back in October saw City suffer their first league defeat of the season thanks to Chris Maguire's injury time free-kick. The two sides then met again in the Checkatrade Trophy quarter-finals in January. The first tie was postponed less than 15 minutes before kick off due to a frozen pitch, with Oxford prevailing 2-1 in the re-arranged match a week later.

3. Managing workloads
Along with playing Oxford on the Friday, McCall's side, of course, also visit newly-promoted Sheffield United on Monday during this extended Easter weekend. Can City make it a bumper weekend with positive results from both games? Will McCall have to make adjustments to his side/set-up for either game?

4. A very 'Good Friday'?
Including the odd Saturday fixture, such as last season's victory over Millwall, City are unbeaten in Good Friday/Easter Saturday fixtures since 2011, winning four and drawing one of their five most recent fixtures at this time of year. Can City extend this run this Friday against Oxford?

5. Open game?
Opponents Oxford will head to the Northern Commercials Stadium currently sitting tenth in the League One table, seven points off the final play-off spot. With draws looking no good for Michael Appleton's side at this stage of the season and City going all out for the victory themselves, could we see an end-to-end encounter at Valley Parade?

Advertisement block

iFollow Next Match Tickets Contact