Oxford United were many people's favourites for relegation last season and, when they dropped to 23rd place just before Christmas after a run of one win in fifteen games, it looked very much as though they were on the way back to League One.

Des Buckingham was sacked and former Addick Gary Rowett took over. He watched his new charges lose 0-4 at Leeds but then oversaw a run of five wins and two draws which lifted them to 14th. They managed to secure their status with a game to spare and ended up 17th.  That was quite an achievement for a club promoted via the play-offs.

However, it hasn't got any easier and they will arrive at The Valley on Saturday in 22nd place with only one win since they beat Sheffield Wednesday at the end of October. That win was at home to Ipswich and, bearing in mind their draws with Coventry, Middlesbrough and Millwall, Rowett has acknowledged that his players do seem to be able to raise their performance levels for certain matches:

"The reason is probably obvious in as much as the game feels bigger, the players maybe have that heightened feeling of having to perform at their maximum," he told BBC Radio Oxford. "Sometimes maybe when you get up for a game like Ipswich and then you have a slightly different away game against a team around you, it doesn't quite feel the same. We've worked to try to see if we can resemble that feeling and create that feeling but ultimately it's either with you or it isn't."

Saturday's game is Oxford's fourth away game in a row against "a team around you" and they will be disappointed to have lost at Swansea and only drawn at Norwich and Blackburn. With away games at Ipswich and Leicester coming up, they will be approaching Saturday as a must-win game and unfortunately, recent history is on their side. Our League One record against them was appalling with one win, four draws and nine defeats since 2016. Four of those defeats were at The Valley, including a 0-4 humbling in 2022.

Oxford have made a switch to playing three at the back in recent weeks. Against Preston last weekend they set up in an uncharacteristically attacking manner too. Rowett opted effectively to play three strikers, with one of them sitting a bit deeper to drop into a more playmaking role. They ended up playing a very narrow version of Charlton’s set up with lots of space left on the flanks. As ever, our wing backs will need to exploit that space. Ex Addick Thierry Small dragged the Oxford defence over to their right hand side for Preston; so if Tyreece Campbell, Ibby Fullah or Tanto Olaofe are able to do something similar then James Bree should have the freedom of the right flank.

One of their players to look out for might be young Tottenham loanee Will Lankshear. He is an England under 20 international who made three Premier League appearances for Spurs last season and who has scored four goals for Oxford this season in eleven appearances.

In some ways recent games have been free hits for The Addicks as few would have expected them to get anything from Southampton, Stoke and Coventry. However, this game is different as dropped points would not only damage morale  but would also allow Oxford, Portsmouth and Norwich to close in on us.

Nathan Jones has hinted that a couple of the injured players might be back in the squad this weekend and is heartened by his patched-up team's performance at Birmingham. "That was more us. Now we have to kick on from that"

When asked what his Christmas wish is he replied: "Well, twelve points would be nice".

Let's hope it starts here........

Photo by Rhea Spencer-Newell