Coventry City and Oxford United are one of a handful of games this FA Cup weekend that sees League One and the Championship take on one another for a spot in the next round.
Unlike other games, both the League One and Championship sides heading into this game are doing so in excellent form. Coventry are currently in eighth and putting together yet another run towards the playoffs, although they are two spots in the league away from that place right now.
The Sky Blues are only three points behind sixth-placed Sunderland, however, having registered their ninth win of the season last time out by beating Middlesbrough. Tatshuiro Sakamoto was the hero that day for Coventry in a comeback win, as he netted just three minutes after Boro took the lead. Haji Wright also scored in the 3-1 victory that day.
This has also kept up the club's excellent run of form that sees them on one of the best unbeaten runs of form across the Football League. In fact, Coventry have not been dealt a loss in the past month which now puts them on an unbeaten run of seven games. They kicked off this run after losing to Ipswich 2-1 with a 2-0 victory over Birmingham City at the start of December.
Coventry then drew 1-1 with both Southampton and Leeds United, which is more than commendable given their positions in the table. Coventry then stunned Sunderland at the Stadium of Light with a 3-0 victory that no doubt goes down as arguably their best win of the season. A 2-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday followed this before a 2-2 draw with Swansea City and a 3-1 win over Boro on Monday.
As for Oxford, they are sitting fifth in their League One campaign right now and are no doubt putting together their best run of form in the third tier in recent years. This sees the U's ahead of the non-playoff spots by seven points already with the club winning 14 of their 25 matches this season. They have also managed to lose only six of these fixtures and are the fourth-highest scorers in the division with a very impressive 42 goals.
Oxford's recent run of form has seen them put in a topsy-turvy December that began with an FA Cup win over Grimsby Town at home before beating Forest Green Rovers 1-0 at home in the Football League Trophy second round.
They then lost 3-0 to Peterborough United and also drew 1-1 with Reading before a win over Burton Albion at home. Losses to Derby County and Northampton Town would come soon after, although they have also managed to beat Charlton Athletic and Cambridge United in recent weeks.