AFC WIMBLEDON vs OXFORD UNITED - LEAGUE ONE HOME FIXTURE 2021/22 SEASON [4th SEPTEMBER]

Saturday 4th September 2021 3pm
AFC Wimbledon will host their latest League One game at Plough Lane for the 2021-22 season against Oxford United, this comes on the back of a 2-2 draw against Ipswich Town last weekend where we battled back from going two down to secure a late draw, only defeat in the league this season has been 1-0 away to Sunderland. We continue to play our early games against sides that I would expect on budget if nothing else to be right up there come the business end of the season. So to have six points on the board after five games and we show a passion for positive play even if we fall behind. With so many new players this season we are sharing the goals around too, useful given we lost our chief goal threat in the summer, we've even begun to show a threat from set pieces with the likes of Ben Heneghan a danger. Will never be easy against a Karl Robinson side such as Oxford, but we did beat them last time, a win would keep our good start going and I hear that the stadium ticket sales continue to be going well. 

Recent League One Results
Ipswich Town 2 - 2 AFC Wimbledon.
Oxford United 3 - 1 Lincoln City.

Onto today's game itself this Saturday in League One and our opponents today, Oxford United, managed by Karl Robinson and since our return to the league have often been a difficult side to get a result against. Last weekend they beat Lincoln City 3-1 at home with a James Henry hat trick and as a result of that win sit in 3rd place in League One with 10 points from their five games. Still early days but we've been playing well and I hope we take the game to them in front of a packed Plough Lane crowd.

Head to Head

Our head to head form against Oxford United since our return to the league as AFC Wimbledon has always been a competitive one, for a long time could have been considered our 'bogey' team but we've overcome that tag now. Since 2011 we've competed against them on twenty two occasions, but it was not until our 11th meeting that we secured our first win. The Dons have only five wins, with three draws against the U's fourteen wins overall. We did have secure a 2-1 win in our most recent fixture back in April though.

Starting XI's [Confirmed]

AFC WIMBLEDON 

Win Odds - 2/1 [William Hill]

Tzanev (Gk),  🟨Guinness-Walker,  🟨Heneghan,  ⚽Nightingale,  Hartigan,  Lawrence,  Woodyard (c),  ⚽⚽Rudoni,  McCormick,  Palmer,  Mebude

SUBS - Oualah (Gk),  Alexander,  Kalambayi,  Assal,  Marsh,  🟨Chislett,  Pressley

Oxford United
Win Odds - 13/10 [William Hill]
Stevens (Gk),  Forde,  Moore,  Thorniley,  🟨Seddon,  Henry,  Rodriguez,  Brannagan,  ⚽Sykes,  Taylor,  Williams

SUBS - Eastwood (Gk),  Winnall,  Mousinho,  McNally,  Agyei,  Kane,  Holland

Selected Bets On This Match;

• Over 1.5 goals in 1st half @7/4.
• Penalty to be awarded and scored @7/2.
• Bookings over 45 points @11/5.
• Over 3.5 goals in match @5/2.

⚽Half Time Score - 0 - 1   [Sykes 45']

First Half Comments;

Underway this afternoon at Plough Lane, after a minutes silence for fan Jack Lonergan who passed away recently, the Dons begin the match, one of only three today in League One. Oxford get the first shot away which is blocked, and secure the opening corners of the match but thankfully the Dons deal with that threat. First booking goes to Steve Seddon of Oxford for a foul on Luke McCormick, we pass the midway point of the first half and things are fairly even overall. Booking for the Dons as Nesta Guinness-Walker goes into the referee's notebook, then as the half looks like coming to an end scoreless the away support cheer a goal from Mark Sykes, beating Nik Tzanev in the Dons goal with a decisive shot.

⚽Full Time Score - 3 - 1   [Rudoni 55' 81' Nightingale 78']

Match Summary;
A goal down at half time, coming back once more in the second half and we've even scored from a corner. 3-1 Dons which will take us up to 9th in the table for now, and still a wonderful start to this season, could be our best ever. No worries about losing striker Joe Pigott now as we seeing goals from all around the squad, Jack Rudoni getting two decisive scores here and Will Nightingale a powerful header from a corner, a rare treat indeed. 

My Man of the Match - Jack Rudoni.

Attendance - tbc.  

Today's Referee - Our match referee for this afternoon will be Brett Huxtable from Devon, and will be his first League One appointment this season, returned for the EFL Trophy game last Tuesday at Burton. He has plenty of experience at this level though recent seasons that featured the Dons have ended in defeats so lets try and turn that stat around. His two assistant referee's are Stephen Brown and Nicholas Dunn, while our Fourth Official this afternoon is Gary Parsons.

Next league one fixture;
  vs Morecambe (Away)
  Saturday 11th September @3:00pm.