Preview: Oxford United vs Birmingham City - prediction, team news, lineups

Aiming to continue their upturn in form under new management, Oxford United welcome Birmingham City to the Kassam Stadium on Saturday afternoon in the Championship.

The U's picked up a standout success at the home of Leicester City last weekend, whilst Blues shared the spoils with a makeshift Stoke City outfit in the Second City.

Match preview

Following a poor start to the campaign under former Birmingham boss Gary Rowett, Oxford United are showing roots of recovery with Matt Bloomfield at the helm, with the new manager enjoying a four-game undefeated run (W2 D2) so far.

The best result of the quartet undoubtedly arrived last weekend at the King Power Stadium, where goals from Sam Long and Mark Harris secured a 2-1 win over Leicester, who swiftly sacked Marti Cifuentes following the defeat.

After collecting a respectable tally of five points from their past three second-tier matches, Oxford are sitting 23rd in the Championship standings ahead of this weekend's clash, three points behind Portsmouth in the relative safety of 21st.

The U's will need to improve their recent home form if they wish to avoid the drop this season, with Bloomfield's men winless across their last three matches at the Kassam Stadium, playing out goalless draws with Bristol City and Queens Park Rangers in January.

However, despite only winning three of their 14 home league fixtures in 2025-26, Oxford have the ability to produce a standout result on their own patch, beating Ipswich Town and Southampton at home at the tail end of 2025.

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Following a highly-damaging seven-game winless run (D3 L4) across a gruelling festive period, Birmingham City have kept their top-six hopes alive with a four-game unbeaten run (W2 D2) in the Championship this month.

That being said, the majority of the St Andrew's @ Knighthead Park crowd was left frustrated last weekend when a Blues side boasting a host of new arrivals failed to beat an injury-hit Stoke outfit, with the two teams sharing the spoils in the Second City.

Despite winning just one of their last five home matches, Birmingham are only five points from sixth-placed Wrexham in the Championship standings, with the League One champions spending heavily in the current transfer window to maximise their chances of finishing in the playoffs.

Keshi Anderson, Lyndon Dykes and Lewis Koumas were amongst the first-team names to be sent elsewhere in January to make room for improvements, one of which has caught the eye in England and Spain.

Scoring against both Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid this season, right-winger Carlos Vicente has joined Chris Davies's side from Deportivo Alaves, whose supporters were begging the 26-year-old to stay in a La Liga match last weekend.

Oxford United Championship form:

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Birmingham City Championship form:

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Team News

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A former Birmingham winger, Przemyslaw Placheta is currently sidelined for Oxford because of a calf injury.

The U's options at the top end of the pitch are reduced further by Tyler Goodrham, who is recovering from an ankle issue.

After battling through the bulk of January with a depleted squad, Birmingham boss Davies has tantalising attacking options ahead of Saturday's Kassam battle.

Marquee signing Vicente is unlikely to be sitting on the bench for a sustained period, putting Patrick Roberts's spot in the team under threat.

August Priske has been signed to offer Blues with a different option at the top end of the pitch, with his strength potentially lending well to a Championship away match.

There are still a number of key players missing for the visitors, with Ethan Laird (hamstring), Alex Cochrane (ankle) and Demarai Gray (calf) sidelined.

Oxford United possible starting lineup:

Cumming; Long, Davies, Brown; Spencer, McDonnell, Brannagan, Currie; Peart-Harris, Mills, Harris

Birmingham City possible starting lineup:

Beadle; Iwata, Klarer, Neumann, Wagner; Paik, Solis; Roberts, Ducksch, Osman; Stansfield

We say: Oxford United 1-3 Birmingham City

Looking to make it five games unbeaten, Oxford will be relatively confident of picking up a result this weekend.

However, Birmingham are bolstered up by a host of high-profile arrivals and could be too much for the U's to handle at the Kassam.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.