PREVIEW Oxford United v Manchester City

A full guide to tonight's Carabao Cup quarter final at the Kassam Stadium

18 December 2019

Oxford United welcome Manchester City in the Carabao Cup this evening.

TEAM NEWS
United are without Simon Eastwood, George Thorne, Ben Woodburn, Jamie Hanson, Malachi Napa and Anthony Forde through injury but welcome James Henry back into the squad with the top scorer likely to be on the bench after recovering from a thigh injury.

Cameron Brannagan and Shandon Baptiste made their returns at MK Dons on Saturday after injury and in previous rounds Karl Robinson has changed things around to give young players an opportunity. Will he do so again against the Champions?

See Karl previewing the game in iFollow right now where Cameron Brannagan also has his say.

THE OPPOSITION

Manager Pep Guardiola knows plenty about the U's after last season's meeting in the same competition: "It’s the same manager, they changed it a little bit (from) the way they played last season in the way they set up, but they play quite similar in terms of attack " he said.

"In one game anything can happen and we are going (there) like we did in the past – to try to win and go to the semi-finals."

PARKING

There are circa 2,000 free parking spaces at the stadium but with a sell out crowd expected we ask everyone to arrive early and park legally. Park and Ride Buses are in operation and there are plenty of ways to get to the game by public transport: click on Match Information for full details.

Please note that there is no movement from one end of the ground to the other behind the North Stand tonight.

The Gaffer

The Quiz

Match Information

FAMILY

The Family Room is open for this game with player visits from 6.30 and we have a full Family Guide to games available here: OUFCFamily.pdf

SENSORY ROOM
We are proud to have a bespoke Sensory Room for fans under 23 who maybe need to take a little time out on a matchday with our fully trained helpers. Just ask a steward if you would like to use it or email Supporter Liaison Officer Kath Faulkner for more details: kfaulkner@oufc.co.uk

Away fans- Please park in the West car park - the one closest to the cinema and bowling complex at the fence end of the ground.

AWAY GUIDE

If you are a City fan travelling to the game then a full Supporters Guide is available here: OUFCAwayDayInfo.pdf

CLUB SHOP

The Club Shop is open with everything you need for Christmas. Pop in before the game.

COVERAGE

You can follow the whole game on twitter through @OUFCOfficial or on our Instagram page or here in our Match Centre, with the official match report and Gallery right here on the final whistle.

Football For Peace

The Programme

MIND

Match Previews

Match Reports

REPORT Oxford United 1 Manchester City 3

Gallant U's bow out of the Carabao Cup. Full time report

18 December 2019

Two goals from Raheem Sterling sent Manchester City through to the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup this evening despite a brave effort from battling Oxford United who gave the holders a real game. Trailing to a Joao Cancelo goal at the break, United hit back through a memorable goal from Matty Taylor but Sterling proved the diffeernce with two goals to end United's resistance.

Never overawed at any stage, United started well and zipped the ball around nicely on a drenched Kassam Stadium pitch but were also mindful not to over-commit men in the opening exchanges, keeping a solid shape with Alex Gorrin sitting just in front of the back four and Rob Dickie a towering presence at the heart of the defence; one clearance after 17 minutes was hooked clear on the line by United’s skipper for the night, but otherwise Oxford weren’t overly tested inside their own box in the first 20 minutes.

The problem was trying to get the ball into dangerous areas at the other end, especially into a face of a strong wind in the first half. A driving run from Tariqe Fosu raised hopes but also highlighted precisely the danger inherent in pushing men forward. From the resulting corner after 22 minutes City broke swiftly and one crossfield pass to Cancelo opened up an enormous space down United’s left. Elliott Moore got across but only succeeded in deflecting Cancelo’s powerful drive up and over Jordan Archer to give the visitors the lead.

Archer saved well from Phil Foden and Sterling clipped a further chance wide, but United held it to 1-0 and were never out of the game despite Riyad Mahrez driving another effort into the side netting; look at the names in this paragraph and you may be able to see the scale of the task facing the U’s!

Taylor did drive one effort wide just before the break and his strike partners Dan Agyei and Tariqe Fosu both showed nice touches but 1-0 at the break was probably fair and far from shameful, and then within 40 seconds of the restart the world went pleasantly mad for a little while!

Taylor, one of four local lads in the side, took the lid off the stadium when after a quick free kick he cut inside his man to face keeper Claudio Bravo who had no chance at all as Taylor drilled the ball past him to roll back the years and bring back memories of Jim Smith and famous cup nights of the past. It only lasted five minutes, but what a great feeling to be level with the Champions.

Unfortunately Sterling was as ruthless as Taylor when given a similar sight of goal after Angelino rolled a delightful ball in to the England forward. Archer was powerless and City were ahead once more. Surely United had been put in their place? Think again. Cup football, remember, so nothing to lose...

Forward they came once more, Bravo tipping a Fosu effort over the bar, sub Mark Sykes clipping a half volley just over, Sam Long one pace away from reaching a cross inside the six yard box...

Brave and to be applauded, but ultimately unwise against a side like City. With 68 minutes gone, sub Jesus celebrated his birthday a few days early by passing low across the six yard box for the unmarked Sterling, who tapped home to send City through to the semi-final.

Absolutely nothing wrong with United's performance or approach. They had given it a real go and Taylor's goal had briefly raised unrealistic hopes to an even higher level. Don't forget that they knocked West Ham out in some style earlier in the competition too.

There were good efforts from Fosu, Mackie (twice), Dickie and Sykes but no further reward as the U's went out but left the competition to an absolute ovation from a crowd of close to 12,000.

A great night, a heroic effort and now we move on to the league and a home game against leaders Wycombe Wanderers.

Time to concentrate on the serious stuff...

Att:11,817

Away 1,200

Report by Chris Williams, pictures by Steve Daniels and Shutterstock, stats by OPTA

Match Reports

Ticket News

Extra Buses and Park and Ride on Wednesday

U's working to make it easier to get to the Carabao Cup quarter final

16 December 2019

With a sell out crowd to see the U's take on Manchester City on Wednesday night we expect the roads around the ground to be busy and ask all fans to allow a little extra time for their journey, or to use public transport or the Park and Ride buses that are in operation for this game.

The Park & Ride buses leave from from Unipart from 5.45pm and then every 12 minutes until 7.35pm before the match returning after the final whistle until 10.26pm*

*This will be later in the event the match is decided by penalties.

A limited number of tickets remain priced at £3 per person (£1.50 Under 16s) but these MUST be purchased in advance online CLICK HERE or from the Ticket Office.

In addition the club has put on an additional bus on both the OX3 (Witney) and OX7 (Kidlington) routes. Full details are HERE

A full guide to the game will be on this site on Tuesday.

Standings