A look ahead to MK Dons’ EFL Trophy game with Oxford United

MK Dons will be reunited with former boss Liam Manning tonight when they take on Oxford United in the EFL Trophy.

Manning spent 16 months at Stadium MK from 2021-22, guiding the side to third place in League One before a poor start to following campaign cost him his job in charge.

He took over at the Kassam Stadium in March, charged with rescuing the U's from relegation - a job he managed at the expense of his former club.

Such has been their momentum, Oxford are third in League One with Manning claiming Manager of the Month for August, just as counterpark Graham Alexander did in League Two.

Oxford opened their EFL Trophy account with a 3-1 win over Northampton Town at Sixfields at the start of the month, while Dons too also won their first group game, beating Chelsea U21s 4-1 at Stadium MK.

One of Dons' few triumphs last season came at the Kassam Stadium, with Matt Smith and Will Grigg finding the back of the net in a 2-1 victory a year ago. In 12 meetings down the years, Dons have just three wins over the U's, who have five, with four draws. They alst met in the Trophy in November 2017, with a thrilling 4-3 win for Dons playing out in Oxford thanks to goals from Brandon Thomas-Asante, Gboly Ariyibi and Ryan Seager.

Referee Alan Young will take charge of the game. the card-happy ref has already flashed 14 cards in two games, ten of them in Saturday's game between Crawley and Tranmere. The controversial official is the same who sent off Dons loanee Josh Martin at Stevenage in the FA Cup in 2021, but showed better behaviour in his last Dons game - the 1-0 defeat to Shrewsbury in January.

James Vallance and Sean Rothwell will run the lines with Fourth Official Mark Derrien.

Bookmakers have Dons at 4/1 to beat their League One opponents, while Oxford are 7/10 favourites. The draw at full time is a 3/1 shot, but the game will go to penalties should it remain all square after 90 minutes.