• Oxford are unbeaten in five league meetings with Stevenage (W3 D2) since a 1-2 defeat in March 2011.
• Stevenage are unbeaten away to Oxford in the Football League, drawing two and winning one of three such trips.
• The Us have lost just one of their last six league games (W4 D1), though that sole loss did come in a 1-0 defeat to Lincoln last time out at the Kassam Stadium.
• Stevenage have failed to win any of their last seven away league games (D4 L3), while they’ve failed to score in four of their last six league games on the road, having done so in just two of their first 16 such games in 2023-24.

Alex Revell has rung the changes in his first game in caretaker charge of Stevenage.

Only six players keep their places from the 2-1 defeat to Burton last Saturday as Nathan Thompson, Aaron Pressley, Elliot List, Finley Burns and the suspended Dan Butler miss out.

Stevenage XI: MacGillivray; Smith, VanCooten, Piergianni, Guinness-Walker; White, L Thompson, Freeman, Roberts; Reid, Hemmings.

Subs: Mitchell, N Thompson, Sweeney, List, Pressley, B Thompson, Evans.

Des Buckingham makes two changes to the Oxford side which lost 1-0 at home to Lincoln ahead of tonight's game.

Cameron Brannagan and Marcus Browne have been recalled with Josh McEachran and Owen Dale missing out, though Dale is among the substitutes.

McEachran failed a fitness test after picking up a knock in training yesterday but it's a first start since Browne after a hamstring problem.

Oxford XI: Cumming; Stevens, Long, Brown, Leigh; Rodrigues, Brannagan, Goodrham; Browne, Murphy; Harris.

Subs: Eastwood, Thorniley, Bodin, Bennett, Smyth, Henry, Dale.

Image source, Rex Features

Oxford fans have probably been on something of an emotional rollercoaster in the past six days.

On Saturday the Us walloped promotion chasing Peterborough 5-0, their third straight win, their third straight clean sheet, with 13 goals scored along the way.

Fast-forward to Tuesday night and Des Buckingham's men went down 1-0 to red-hot Lincoln who moved seventh, within two points of their hosts in the final play-off spot, with a better goal difference, and two games to come.

Oxford's penultimate game is tonight, against a Stevenage side who would need to win both their final games, scoring a glut of goals, and hoping a succession of other results all go their way.

All that with their manager having walked away two days ago...

Where will the rollercoaster head tonight?

Image source, Rex Features

Steve Evans left Stevenage for Rotherham on Wednesday after two highly successful years in charge in Hertfordshire.

He kept Boro up in League Two at the end of 2021-22 and then, improbably, guided them to automatic promotion last season.

They spent much of this campaign battling for a play-off spot in the third tier but Saturday's home defeat by Burton all-but ended their top-six hopes.

Stevenage chairman Phil Wallace said Evans was leaving with the club "totally different" to how it had been two years ago.

"It's not what we wanted, but compensation clauses are in place for a reason and these things happen in football," he told the club website.

"The approach was unexpected but handled in the right manner by both clubs and we told Steve that, after all he'd done for our club, we would not stand in his way if the compensation terms were met and he wanted to leave."

Evans now returns to a club he led to back-to-back promotions from League Two to the Championship between 2012 and 2014 while one of his predecessors and also former first team coach Alex Revell will be back in caretaker charge of Boro tonight.

Image source, Rex Features

Good evening! What a week, eh? Ready for the weekend? I bet you are.

This is the first of SEVEN straight days of EFL action with issues still to resolve in the promotion race and relegation scrap in all three divisions.

Tonight all eyes are on League One where Oxford United are seeking to take a big step towards sealing a place in the play-offs with victory in their penultimate game of the season.

The visitors are Stevenage, reeling from a run of one win in 10 which has seen them slip to the very fringes of the play-off race and having lost manager Steve Evans to Rotherham on Wednesday.

The perfect way to kick-off a huge weekend of football on the BBC..