Pick of the stats: Oxford United v Portsmouthpublished at 14:06 BST 8 August 2025
14:06 BST 8 August 2025
After coming up together from League One in 2023-24, Oxford United and Portsmouth meet to begin their second season back in the Championship on Saturday (15:00 BST).
John Mousinho, who ended his playing career with a six-season stint at the Kassam Stadium, guided Pompey to a strong finish to their last campaign, eventually finishing 16th, one point and one place ahead of Gary Rowett's U's.
Oxford United are winless across their last seven league games against Portsmouth (D4 L3), since a 3-2 victory in February 2022.
After winning this exact fixture 2-0 last season, Portsmouth will be looking to win successive away league games against Oxford United for the first time since September 1981.
This will be the fourth time that Oxford have met Portsmouth on the opening day of a Football League campaign, winning each of their prior three meetings whilst scoring 3+ goals in 1987, 1993 and 2013.
Portsmouth have lost their opening league game in just one of the last 11 seasons (W4 D6), remaining unbeaten across their last five in succession (W1 D4).
Only Plymouth (12) earned fewer points away from home in the Championship last season than Portsmouth (14 – W3 D5 L15), with only Luton (16) losing more on the road than Pompey.
'Oxford may be undercooked against Portsmouth'published at 16:27 BST 7 August 2025
16:27 BST 7 August 2025
Jerome Sale BBC Radio Oxford's Oxford United commentator
Image source, Rex Features
When Oxford United started their first season back in the Championship, nine of their starting XI had played for them in the League One play-off final. There was some trepidation as the U's took on a division they'd been out of for a quarter of a century.
They may have surprised even themselves by how they eased to safety under Gary Rowett. When they kick off the new campaign this weekend, there's every chance at least eight of the starters will have proved themselves in the Championship with Oxford last season.
Those who didn't – summer signings Brodie Spencer and Brian De Keersmaecker and maybe defender Jack Currie, who is back from a stellar loan at Leyton Orient, all look ready to go at this level. They have a good team.
Yet there is a feeling that United may be a little undercooked going into the opener against Portsmouth.
A pre-season tour to Indonesia allowed them to make friends and gain influence there, but ate into the available time for the sort of intense fitness work that a Rowett summer usually entails. There have also been disruptive injuries which have impacted squad depth at a time when it should be at its best.
United arrived back in the county's consciousness last summer – they are THE story, although there is as much talk about the pending decision about a new stadium as there is about the new season.
The way for Oxford to succeed over the next nine months will be to somehow combine their underdog mentality of last year with a swagger that comes from knowing the Championship ropes. Can you have both? We are about to find out.
A year ago Oxford were at the bottom of most people's predicted final table, but finished 17th.
The Championship does look more competitive this year, but the average prediction I have seen this time around places the U's just above the relegation zone. Funnily enough, Oxford fans might be more comfortable if they had again been completely written off!
🎧 Are Oxford lacking squad depth?published at 11:14 BST 31 July 2025
11:14 BST 31 July 2025
Media caption,
The Dub: Latest episode
"You've got a great starting XI by recent standards for Oxford United but can these players who have had a truncated pre-season go 90 minutes and into stoppage time?"
The Dub team discuss how Oxford's pre-season has shaped up, how injuries may affect the squad and what's going on with the new stadium.
'Playing games too soon has a knock-on effect' - Rowettpublished at 11:55 BST 30 July 2025
11:55 BST 30 July 2025
Image source, Rex Features
Image caption,
Gary Rowett was appointed Oxford United boss in December
Oxford United's pre-season tour of Indonesia meant they were playing games too soon, according to boss Gary Rowett.
The U's played three games in Indonesia before heading back to England where they have featured in a further three first-team warm-ups this month.
That has led to a number of injuries which are giving concern to Rowett ahead of their opening Championship match at home to Portsmouth on 9 August.
"Ciaron Brown will be (out) a little longer as he's had a minor setback and Will Vaulks might be a week but it's not much good when the season is around the corner," Rowett told BBC Radio Oxford after a 1-1 draw with Spanish side CD Leganes on Tuesday.
"Michal Helik and Shemmy (Przemyslaw Placheta) were unavailable for the game and Luke Harris will be out for a while with a swollen ankle and there's some damage in there.
"Having to play players because you've lost players in Indonesia because we're playing games too soon has a knock-on effect," added Rowett.
End of Oxford's tour of discoverypublished at 08:25 BST 15 July 2025
08:25 BST 15 July 2025
Jerome Sale BBC Radio Oxford's Oxford United commentator
Image source, BBC Indonesia
Image caption,
Oxford United's match against Port FC was halted by a downpour
Both of Oxford's matches in Bandung were interrupted – the first by floodlight failure and the second by monsoon rain of epic proportions.
The weather in the final against Thai side Port FC undoubtedly contributed to the outcome – Port's winner came during the deluge.
Had it been Elliott Moore lifting the trophy, not his beaming counterpart, the initial assessment of the trip would, I am sure, be largely positive. Even when results don't really matter, they kind of do.
United have done a lot right out here, even making kids in an orphanage smile with a mass kick-about. Those who think footballers are all cynical should have seen this group of players there. They won't forget those children and I applaud their private actions after the visit.
If you drew up a list of EFL football managers past and present that you might expect to see being paraded on an imitation lion carried by four men as part of a local custom…Gary Rowett would be a long way down it.
He was respectful and didn't refuse when invited to climb aboard at a news conference. He styled it out and by doing so he has gone up in most people's expectations.
The team will have got over the defeat by Port almost before they had dried out. More minutes in the legs, some game-time for youth team products. Mark Harris will be pleased with his golden boot for being tournament top scorer.
Oxford's rise to the Championship – and staying there - has been in no small part because of the funding from Erick Thohir and others in South East Asia. The latest growing pains are maybe being felt by the team and coaching staff more than the supporters.
A 7,000-mile trip in pre-season is probably not the absolutely ideal preparation for the new season, but there is a reason big clubs make these trips, even though they're often derided.
This was a tour of discovery for those who travelled at relatively short notice to support the team, but it was too for Oxford United itself - a tentative exploration of a potentially massive market, where no particular European team appears to have a stranglehold. But the gap between the richest and poorest is a chasm, and monetarising Oxford's new found popularity will be a challenge in Indonesia. They missed out on £250,000 of prize money when they lost the final, too.
Will the injuries picked up prove debilitating as the Championship season opens? Has United's reputation been significantly enhanced? Will they be able to tap into this emerging economy? We only know the true value – or cost - of the trip further down the line.
United invested a lot in this trip – not financially, the first class travel and accommodation was all laid on - but in terms of energy and emotion. I am sure there will be a fierce internal debate about whether it should 'one and done' for such a tour, or whether it would be folly not to try and learn from - and build on - what has been achieved here this time…. and, as they say in football, 'go again'.
You can find part one of Jerome Sale's tour recap below.
