Oxford United vs Coventry Predictions

They may have made it past Championship opposition in the League Cup on Tuesday evening, which should give the U’s a timely boost, but their league form is a tad worrying. Oxford go into Saturday’s game having lost each of their last three League One matches and thus need a reprieve. In contrast, Coventry go to Kassam Stadium unbeaten in five, three of which they’ve won.

When losing to Blackpool, Oxford were undoubtedly unlucky, as they were much the better team, though instead of using that performance as a platform from which to build, Karl Robinson’s men have taken a few steps in the wrong direction. They were poor defensively, when throwing away a lead against Burton, while they struggled massively to match Bristol Rovers for attacking power last weekend, as they lost by three goals to one on their travels.

At the start of the campaign, Oxford looked reasonably useful at the back, but after two sloppy defensive efforts, whereby they’ve surrendered seven goals and 3.46 expected goals, defensive improvement is very much needed.

In contrast, Coventry have been very, very tough to get at this season. They did concede three goals away against Portsmouth a few weeks ago, but they had two players sent off, while that is the only time that they’ve been breached during the current campaign. The Sky Blues go into Saturday’s game having kept four clean sheets in five games, which must be applauded.

The way in which Coventry have not just avoided conceding but have stopped teams from creating should also be applauded. In addition to their four clean sheets, Mark Robins’ men have surrendered a very pleasing average of 0.76 expected goals for, which tells us that teams are finding it tough to make offensive headway against Saturday’s visitors.

In all honesty, from a betting point of view, this is one of Saturday’s less-appealing games, though those looking to get involved are pointed towards ‘Coventry to Win & Under 3.5 Goals’. The visitors aren’t the biggest scorers, but they have given less away than Oxford – they’ve given less away than most teams – while they simply look more solid all round. By adopting the same pragmatic approach that allowed them to beat Gillingham by a goal to nil last week, the Sky Blues, who’ve conceded just 11 shots on target in five games, can continue to move in the right direction by securing another relatively low-scoring win.