Artell plots a repeat of last season when goals from Mandron and Dale gave us a 2-0 win against U's.

David Artell fully expects Oxford United to be challengers for promotion again this season. The U’s lost out in the play-offs last year but having kept the majority of his squad together, Karl Robinson will be aiming to mastermind another potential promotion bid and return the club back to the second tier.

Crewe won 2-0 at the Kassam Stadium last year with Mika Mandron and Owen Dale (pictured) on target. The two partnered each other away at Portsmouth at the weekend and the club have had to assess the fitness of Owen Dale after he suffered a bout of sickness at the weekend.

Oxford enacted revenge with a thumping 6-0 win at Mornflake Stadium back in April.

Ahead of tonight’s game, Artell told crewealex.net: “Oxford will be there or thereabouts again. They are a good side with a big budget and Karl is an experienced manager.

“We know it will be another tough away game, against one of the clubs who expect to be there. They lost in the play-offs last season, so they will expect to be challenging again.

“Karl has kept the majority of his squad together and that is a real positive for them. I think it is better to have players you know. You know what they are capable of or not capable of and that builds a good team and Oxford are a good team.

He added: “We know it is always a tough place to go but we won there last season and there is no reason why we cannot do that again. We will have to go there and match their quality and endeavour and if we do then we have a chance of winning there again.”