Oxford v Norwich: Yellows may catch Canaries cold in Evs play | OneFootball

EFL Championship

Oxford are back in the Championship after 25 years

Oxford are back in the second-tier for the first time in 25 years and open their Championship account against Norwich on Saturday. Betfair writer Mark O'Haire is backing the U's to avoid defeat.

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Oxford v Norwich Saturday August 10, 12:30Live on Sky Sports

Organised Oxford will be difficult to oust

It's been 25 years since Oxford were playing at second-tier level and the U's unexpected promotion has seen Des Buckingham's side dismissed as relegation favourites. However, the hosts are determined to bloody a few noses in their quest to survive with a style and approach that proved mightily effective in the final quarter of last season's campaign.

Buckingham will ensure Oxford are aggressive out of possession, hassling and harrying their opposition. The U's will be excellently organised in a bid to allow their glut of intelligent midfield operators to make the difference - Cameron Brannagan and Marcus McGuane in particular, should be well capable of stepping up to Championship level.

Losing Josh Murphy to Portsmouth was a bitter blow, but Oxford have recruited smartly to ensure they're competitive, though the squad might lack a touch of X-Factor in the final-third. Questions have been asked about the team's clinical edge with Buckingham's boys failing to score in three of their last four pre-season friendlies coming into the campaign.

Norwich in transition following Thorup appointment

Norwich come into 2024/25 with a new lease of life. David Wagner has been moved on, the Canaries hierarchy has been overhauled and optimism has soared around Norfolk following the arrival of highly-rated Danish head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup. The new boss should give the group much-needed direction and organisation, but it might also take time.

Thorup insisted six weeks would be enough to whip his side into shape, though transitioning to a new style of play will always lead to teething problems. The high-risk, high-reward approach has arrived alongside errors in pre-season, whilst set-piece deficiencies and a lack of defensive consistency has also raised questions coming into the opener.

Gabriel Sara's big-money sale has taken a touch of stardust away from Norwich, yet the mercurial talents of Marcelinho Nunez, goal-getting Josh Sargent, in-demand Jon Rowe and winger Borja Sanz remain, suggesting they're very capable of another assault on the top-six come May, but at this point in-time they might be a team worth avoiding for the big kick-off.

Canaries away record difficult to dismiss

Oxford and Norwich are facing-off for the first time in league action since 1999, when the Canaries came away from the Manor Ground with a 4-2 victory. The visitors have claimed W4-D0-L3 in their last seven trips to the U's, whilst the most recent eight league encounters between the pair have returned a well-balanced W4-D1-L3 in City's favour.

Oxford 3.15 have lost their last two season-openers and are now winless in their past six campaign curtain-raisers (W0-D2-L4). The Yellows also toiled against the big-hitters in League One, posting W2-D5-L4 when welcoming top-half opposition to the Kassam Stadium, recording only two clean sheets in the same 11-game sample. Improvement is required.

Norwich 2.38 won their first fixture of the 2023/24 season and are now searching for consecutive MD1 successes for the first time since 1997. Although under a different regime, the Canaries were notoriously poor travellers last time out, as only four sides tabled fewer triumphs than City's six (W6-D6-L11) with three of those four clubs suffering relegation.

Yellows may catch Canaries cold

Oxford command respect following their noticeable improvement over the final six months of their promotion-winning campaign. Having found the right formula, Des Buckingham saw the U's produce a W7-D7-L4 return in their final 18 regular season games ahead of an excellent play-off campaign and the hosts should be highly motivated on the opening day.

With Norwich a work-in-progress under new boss Johannes Hoff Thorup, I'm happy to oppose away favourites considering their rotten away record. With that in-mind, I'll support Oxford Double Chance alongside Under 3.5 Goals for a 2.01 shot on the Bet Builder. I'm not expecting the Yellows to go gung-ho here and a low-scoring draw could be in the offing.

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Back Oxford Double Chance and Under 3.5 Goals @ 1/1