Coventry v Oxford: Get Sky Blues onside at 10/11

• Robins expecting more from Sky Blues

• Oxford enjoying a dream start

• Coventry worth supporting at the CBS

• Get a FREE bet every time your team scores a goal in August!

Coventry v Oxford
Friday August 16, 20:00
Live on Sky Sports

Robins promises more to come from Coventry

Coventry chief Mark Robins suggested there is plenty more to come from the Sky Blues after they collected their first victory of 2024/25 at Bristol City in the EFL Cup on Tuesday. Ellis Simms struck an excellent goal shortly after coming on to separate the two Championship sides. The win followed a disappointing opening league defeat at Stoke on Saturday.

Brandon Thomas-Asante, Jack Rudoni and Ephron Mason-Clark's arrivals strengthened the side's claims for a top-six finish and Robins sees plenty of room for improvement in their opening efforts. He said, "We're having some teething problems at the minute, but it is just part of the process. There's a spark which needs to ignite but things will come."

Last season's FA Cup semi-finalists are still without Ben Sheaf with the key midfielder sidelined for another couple of weeks through injury. City have been in the market for a specialised holding midfielder this summer but look set to persist with two from three with Jamie Allen, Victor Torp and Josh Eccles all aiming to fill that void on Friday night.

Two from two for Oxford

Oxford have enjoyed an excellent start to the new season. The newly-promoted outfit opened their Championship account with a worthy 2-0 win over Norwich thanks to goals from Mark Harris and Cameron Brannagan, before comfortably overcoming Peterborough by the same scoreline in the EFL Cup as Tyler Goodrham and Matt Phillips scored.

Head coach Des Buckingham named nine of his starters from May's play-off final success against Norwich and that continuity and consistency contributed to an eye-catching effort last weekend. Oxford's boss then shuffled his pack in midweek, making eight changes and handing out four debuts from the off as the U's made it back-to-back victories.

Speaking in midweek, Buckingham said: "We spoke before the game around carrying momentum from Saturday, to get us ready and prepared for Friday, and some of the football we played I thought was excellent. It puts us in a strong position going into Friday, to pick what we hope will be the right team for a challenging test away at Coventry."

Coventry fair favourites

Coventry have enjoyed a very slight edge in head-to-head league meetings with Oxford in the past (W6-D1-L4), as well as running out impressive 6-2 winners when the duo crossed swords in the FA Cup back in January. The Sky Blues have also posted seven triumphs in their eight previous home encounters against the U's, stretching way back to 1982.

Coventry 1.705/7 returned W9-D8-L6 in CBS Arena outings last term, however, five defeats in the Sky Blues final seven home fixtures muddied an impressive record as hosts. Mark Robins' men were rated eighth on home Expected Points (xP), boasting a respectable 57% Expected Goals (xG) ratio, going off as odds-on favourites in 10 of their last 15 here.

Oxford 5.509/2 take to the road for the first time this season and the U's will be eager to improve on their away record at top League One teams last time out - the visitors shipped 11 goals at the top-four (W1-D0-L3) and leaked multiple strikes in half of their trips to sides in 14^th and above. Overall, Oxford tabled just five victories in 18 against top-10 opposition.

Sky Blues the selection

Coventry are a touch too short to support on the nose, but include Under 4.5 Goals and the Sky Blues hold plenty of appeal at 10/111.91. Only three of last season's 23 CBS Arena dates delivered 5+ goals with 19 of the hosts' most recent 20 home league triumphs arriving alongside Under 4.5 Goals. We'll be paid-out should Cov win 1-0, 2-0, 3-0, 4-0, 2-1 or 3-1.

Meanwhile, just two of Oxford's away days in the third-tier featured a five-goal haul or more, with seven of their eight defeats on their travels arriving alongside the Under 4.5 Goals total.

Bruno Fernandes SuperBoost!

Betfair are kicking off the new season with a SuperBoost at Old Trafford, with the hope that Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes will be fouled 1 or more times.

Fernandes, who has just signed a new deal at the club, won 1 or more fouls in eight of his last 10 Premier League games for Manchester United at the back end of last season - winning 14 in total.

Fulham will know he is the main attacking threat and will have to stay tight to stop him pulling the strings.

Indeed, since his Manchester United debut in 2020, Bruno has been fouled more times than any other player a the club (180). Let's hope he can win one more, with the SuperBoosted price of 1/12.00 (up from 4/91.44)!

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