PREVIEW: Sunderland vs Oxford United - Can Sunderland further extend the gap at the top?

All you need to know ahead of Sunderland's visit from Oxford

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After a 2-1 win away to Luton on Wednesday night, Sunderland extended their lead at the top of the table to three points. Their closest rivals Burnley dropped points away at Hull only coming away with a 1-1 draw.

Winning away at Hull is not for everyone it seems.

Team News

In terms of injuries, the list stays the same yet again. Aaron Connolly picked up a knock after coming on as a substitute against Luton but he should be fine for tomorrow.

Adil Aouchiche, who has been amongst the subtitutes in the last few fixtures, will be hoping to make his first appearance for The Black Cats since August.

The Opposition

A side many who tipped to go straight back down have turned a few heads with the way they've started the new season. Oxford have only lost three of their opening 11 matches and are proving to be quite hard to beat.

Oxford picked up their fifth successive draw as it was a 1-1 stalemate with Derby County at the Kassam Stadium in midweek. Dane Scarlett opening the scoring in the 12th minute, his first goal for the club. Former Sheffield Wednesday and Cardiff winger Nathaniel Mendez-Laing scored the equaliser 10 minutes into the second half.

The Gaffer

Des Buckingham became Oxford's new head coach in November 2023 following the departure of Liam Manning to Bristol City.

Buckingham returned home to his boy-hood club and helped them gain promotion to the Championship beating Peterborough and Bolton in the play-offs.

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Before joining Oxford, Buckingham had spent the entirety of his coaching career abroad. He started coaching in New Zealand with Wellington Phoenix before going on to work with the New Zealand U20 and U23 teams.

He then spent three months in Australia as the interim manager of Melbourne City, before joining Mumbai City where he won the Indian Super League in 2023.

Oxford Team News

Siriki Dembele could be on the side lines this weekend as he picked up an ankle injury in the 1-1 draw with Derby on Tuesday night.

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Owen Dale, Josh McEachran, Louie Sibley and Mark Harris could all be options to replace the Scottish winger.

Captain Cameron Brannagan, Joe Bennett, Matt Phillips and Przemyslaw Placheta are also out with injury.

Previous Meeting

The last time the two sides met Sunderland came out victorious in a 2-1 away in at the Kassam Stadium.

Both captains scored in the first half, Corey Evans opened the scoring in the 16th minute after pouncing on a free-kick that wasn't cleared properly.

Elliott Moore then headed home from a Billy Bodin free-kick 10 minutes before half time.

Both sides had the chance to take the lead in the second half, but it was super sub Elliot Embleton who grabbed the winner in the 89th minute of the game, just three minutes after coming on.

The Referee

Tomorrows referee will be Oliver Langford.

Langford has been the lead official of a Sunderland game a previous 10 times with The Black Cats winning four, drawing four and losing two.

EFL Stat Pack

As per the EFL website:

Sunderland are unbeaten in their last 13 matches against Oxford United in all competitions (W6 D7) since a 3-2 defeat at Roker Park in April 1994.

The last time Oxford visited Sunderland in a second tier league match was in September 1998, losing 7-0 with three different Black Cats player scoring a brace in the game (Bridges, Dichio, Rae).

Sunderland are unbeaten in their five home league games this season (W4 D1), last going longer at the Stadium of Light without losing in the same Championship season in 2006-07 when they won promotion to the Premier League.

Oxford United are winless in their five Championship away games this season (D2 L3), last going longer without victory on the road at the beginning of a league campaign in 2019-20 in League One (first 16 games).

17-year-old Chris Rigg has opened the scoring in two of Sunderland’s last three home league games with each of his four total goals for the Black Cats coming at the Stadium of Light.

Predicted line-up

4-3-3: Patterson, Hume, Mepham, O'Nien, Brown, Neil, Bellingham, Rigg, Isidor, Mundle