Oxford v Arsenal; the return of Smith Rowe, the form and last season

 

 

• Oxford v Arsenal: Arsenal in the FA Cup and the current form

By Tony Attwood

So now we know, if we manage to beat Oxford it will be Manchester City away as a reward at the end of the month.   I suppose that seems fair enough especially as Tottenham will also be worrying about Preston North End away.

But at least with Manchester City away, (if we beat Oxford United) then if we win it will show our strength and how far our reserves have come, and if we lose then it will leave us free to focus on the league and not get distracted by talk of a fourth double.  And we will be able to focus on supporting Boreham Wood.

However, first of course, there is Oxford, with one win in their last six in the league.  For them much of the commentary has been pretty much what one would expect.  ” This is the FA Cup and we know that anything can happen.” is actually reported on the BBC website as a comment by Karl Robinson, and really one wonders why.

And just to add to the focus they point out, as do others, that Arsenal are unbeaten in the last nine league games.  They could also say that we have qualified for the next stage of the Europa by being top of our group, we are top of the Premier League having won two more matches than any other club, we have the lowest number of defeats in the league, have scored the second highest number of goals in the league, and were predicted by virtually everyone in the mainstream media to finish outside of the top four this season, largely because the club’s recruitment policy was deeply flawed and Arteta should be moved on.

But what is mentioned is, as the BBC tell us, “Arsenal were eliminated at the first hurdle last season, losing to then-Championship club Nottingham Forest in the third round.”

Yet what is not mentioned (except by Untold) is that Arsenal have the best record of any team in the universe in this competition.

But to be fair that BBC article does give us a bit of interesting background, which is that “It is the first meeting between Oxford and Arsenal since the third round of the FA Cup in 2002-03, which Arsenal won 2-0 with Dennis Bergkamp scoring his 100th goal for the club in the game.”   We won the cup that year.

And also Arsenal “could welcome back England forward Emile Smith Rowe from a groin injury.”   That “could” turns to “will” in some other articles.

In a separate article the BBC also tell us that “In January 2016 Oxford, who were in League Two at the time, dumped Premier League Swansea out in the third round,” and a year after that as a League One club they knocked out Rotherham and Newcastle United as they “marched on” to the fifth round.

But there was one bit of information that I didn’t know before: the lease on Oxford’s ground runs out in three years’ time.  Now there’s a thing.

However much of the focus has been taken away from this match due to the exploits of Match of the Day pundits in terms of wearing moustaches or not.  Pundits eh?  What can you do with them?  (Actually, remove them and show more of the matches on TV with just the crowd noise is one thing).

Still, I am sure Arsenal will have been reviewing the video clips from Oxford’s last home game – a 0-1 defeat to Exeter City who are currently 11th in the league.

And just because no one else wants to publish it, here is the entire League One league table covering only home games.  (Oxford are 19th, if you don’t want to work your way through the whole list.  They have won four, drawn three and lost five.)

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Plymouth Argyle	13	12	0	1	25	9	16	36
2	Sheffield Wednesday	13	8	4	1	30	11	19	28
3	Derby County	12	8	2	2	23	10	13	26
4	Peterborough United	12	8	1	3	24	9	15	25
5	Ipswich Town	12	7	4	1	22	9	13	25
6	Bolton Wanderers	13	7	4	2	16	8	8	25
7	Barnsley	12	7	1	4	17	13	4	22
8	Wycombe Wanderers	12	6	3	3	19	12	7	21
9	Charlton Athletic	13	5	5	3	24	17	7	20
10	Bristol Rovers	13	5	4	4	21	22	-1	19
11	Exeter City	12	5	3	4	18	16	2	18
12	Port Vale	11	5	3	3	13	11	2	18
13	Morecambe	13	4	5	4	16	16	0	17
14	Shrewsbury Town	13	5	2	6	13	17	-4	17
15	Cambridge United	13	5	2	6	12	16	-4	17
16	Lincoln City	12	2	10	0	13	10	3	16
17	Portsmouth	12	3	7	2	17	15	2	16
18	Cheltenham Town	11	5	1	5	11	13	-2	16
19	Oxford United	12	4	3	5	16	13	3	15
20	Burton Albion	12	3	4	5	14	19	-5	13
21	Forest Green Rovers	13	4	0	9	10	23	-13	12
22	Fleetwood Town	11	2	5	4	10	10	0	11
23	Accrington Stanley	11	2	5	4	14	18	-4	11
24	Milton Keynes Dons	12	2	2	8	10	20	-10	8

 

Next up, the Arsenal team.

• How Arsenal’s multiple goalscorers is greatly increasing their chance of the title
• Oxford United v Arsenal: the past and the present and what they foretell