Yanic Wildschut and Josh Murphy continue their progress after injury as the U’s welcome Barnsley to the Kassam Stadium on Saturday (3pm)
The pair returned to the squad at Accrington after injuries and boss Karl Robinson will continue to ease them back into action:
“Yanic is back and will be involved as well as Josh” he told iFollow. “They have trained well but you have to remember that for them it is essentially the second week of pre-season as they come back from their injuries.
“It will take time for them to get fully match sharp but it is still great to have them involved with the squad again”.
United take on the teams in second, third and fourth over the next three games - Barnsley, Sheffield Wednesday and Ipswich Town.
“That’s a good thing” Karl said. “It’s why we do the sport, to test ourselves against the best sides. I’d love to play the top teams every week because it challenges you. Every game challenges you in some way but for games against the top teams in your division you know you are going to have to not make mistakes, take your chances when they come along, and be at the top of your game.
“We know the next few games are going to be very difficult. It may be that those teams come at you and the game becomes open, but then you also know they have the players to pick you off if that happens and space opens up.
“So we are under no illusions over the next four games - Charlton being the fourth and another good side. But we are on the right track, we have put this little unbeaten run together - the only frustrating thing is to have drawn too many games in that run instead of wins. Hopefully we put that right this weekend.”
See the full interview in this week’s Preview Show in iFollow