Saints travel to a third from bottom managerless Oxford United who will be hoping for a win that could see them jump back above Portsmouth in the Championship table, however for Saints its about getting back to winning ways.

Tonda Eckert has reported a fit squad apart from the long term injuries and even in that note Shea Charles is nearing a return as is Ross Stewart who has returned to light training where he joins Elias Jelert.

However the main injury news is about Tom Fellows who is getting back to 100% and from this perspective and with 3 games coming up in a little over a week, I would expect him to start again from the bench, as he did against Coventry.

That being the case the only change that I would think the manager is contemplating is in the back line, where he has got into a rotation system between Jack Stephens & Joshua Quarshie.

Th injury to Fellows has upset our rhythm, but we are not a one man team, the issue is about who replaces him.

Against Norwich it was Ryan Fraser, but he was replaced by Welingon against Coventry, I have to say I was not enamoured by this, Welington is a defender who can overlap rather than a wing back, he is a 100% player and that sometimes can mask his deficiencies going forward.

We have lacked the passing ability of Fellows, for me Ryan Fraser is the best option available to do that at Oxford.

Other than that it is hard to see many changes, although with a tough game at Birmingham coming up in only 3 days, the manager might spring a surprise or two to rest players before that fixture, I just have a nagging suspicion that we might see a rare start for Cameron Archer in this game.

In the Oxford camp it is all change for the 3rd year running, Gary Rowett was sacked on Tuesday, so this will make it a 3rd different manager on Boxing Day in as many years.

So the big question is whether this will make any difference, will it stir them up or was the problem the team and not the manager.

Oxford have conceded the same number of goals as Saints so far this season, 31 in total, that is less than anyone else in the bottom three, the issue for them is scoring goals, their 22 scored is the third lowest in the division, only Sheffield Wednesday and Portsmouth have scored less.

So on paper this should be a very winnable game for Saints, but didn't we say that before the trip to Norwich, hopefully we have got that blip out of our system and we can put this one to bed.

Games against Oxford are fairly rare, over the years the clubs have met just 15 times, only 10 of them have been in the League, the last being in April 1988, 6 of these games were Saints wins, with 2 draws and Oxford winning just 2, their only wins out of the 15.

The 5 cup games ended in 3 home wins, two of them after draws at Oxford's old Manor Ground home.

Our last defeat to them was on New Years Day 1987, when we were well beaten 3-1, however a bad omen is that in the previous season Boxing Day 1986 saw Oxford beat us 3-0.

However as mentioned, these games were not at the Kassam Stadium, but at the Manor Ground, this is our first competitive fixture at their current home and potentially our last as their lease is up on the stadium and they have planning permission for a new stadium.

However as this was only granted planning permission back in October and so the actual date it will be ready is still unclear, also unclear is whether Oxford will be able to continue at the Kassam Stadium until the new one is ready.

They only have a lease there until the end of next season and with the new stadium not having started construction yet, whether it would be ready for 2027/28 season is unclear.

All Photos Via Reuters