Jake Wright may be among the substitutes tonight as Oxford United head to Rochdale looking to build on an excellent performance at the weekend.
The U’s thrashed Accrington Stanley 5-0, and manager Chris Wilder is keen to make as few changes as possible.
It could mean Wright, who sat out the game through suspension, may not come straight back into the starting XI for the npower League Two clash.
Wilder admitted leaving his skipper out was an option given the performances of centre backs Michael Raynes and Johnny Mullins.
He said: “I’ll have to have a look at it, the two centre halves did well against Accrington.
“Jake’s done exceptionally well and has possibly been our stand-out performer all season, but when you win 5-0, and with the way the boys played, he might have to be a touch patient.
“That’s what we crave for if we’re going to be successful – it has to be a fight to get in the team.”
Tony Capaldi should have recovered from the ankle injury which forced him off at half-time on Saturday, so Wilder could name an unchanged starting line-up for only the second time this season.
United have not picked up a single point away from home since a 2-0 win at Bristol Rovers on the opening day.
But they will travel with confidence after Saturday’s display, and Raynes believes it is crucial United follow it up with another good result.
He said: “We put pressure on ourselves because we want to do well and at the weekend everything fell into place.
“But Rochdale is massive now, if we don’t follow it up and get a result no-one will care what we did against Accrington.”
John Coleman’s side sit eighth in the table, but they have struggled at Spotland, with just one home win in six league games.
TONIGHT’S SQUADS
Rochdale: from Lillis, Rafferty, R Edwards, Bennett, McIntyre, P Edwards, Tutte, Kennedy, Donnelly, Adebola, Grant, Cavanagh, Grimes, Smith, Barry-Murphy, Pearson, Craney, Logan.
Oxford Utd: from Clarke, Whing, Raynes, Mullins, Capaldi, Potter, Cox, Forster-Caskey, Rigg, Craddock, Constable, Wright, Chapman, Heslop, Pittman, Leven, Worley, O’Brien, Brown.
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