Oxford United are feeling desperate for a win with a drop down into eighth last weekend as the U's head to Vale Park to meet with a Port Vale side who also dropped deeper into relegation at the same time.
Both of these sides need three points in this one but for two very different reasons. As for the home side, Vale are now in 23rd and have been overtaken by Fleetwood Town after the club extended their winless run following a midweek draw with Leyton Orient.
Worse yet, Vale lost to Shrewsbury Town at home last weekend with a finish from Baylee Dipepa being the only positive from a game that saw 16 shots and only three of those hit the target.
A further loss to Derby County came in before that, as Vale drew with Fleetwood Town in a must-not-lose battle down in the bottom three before that. Lincoln City also managed to beat them recently with Reading, Leyton Orient, Fleetwood themselves and Lincoln City all claiming a win over them in February. In fact, Vale remain winless in 2024 with their last victory coming at home to Blackpool in a 3-0 win where Ben Garrity, James Wilson and Nathan Smith all scored a goal each from a total of eight shots on target.
What makes Vale's 2024 even worse is a lost to Portsmouth and even a defeat away to last-placed Carlisle United on New Year's Day.
Oxford have slipped into eighth in recent times, but their main concern heading into this gameweek is how sides above them have games in hand. The club have played out 38 games and won 17 of those, losing 12 and drawing the other nine.
However, this does also see a worrying 52 goals against them come in, which is the second most inside the top half of the table after Northampton Town and only seven fewer than Vale's record of 59. Oxford have scored 60 times, however, which is only bettered by those in the top five, while this is also a tally only two fewer than Portsmouth's record at the top of the table.
Just one win in the past five games leaves the U's one point off the playoff spots, however, and with Stevenage in sixth having two games in hand, this gap could get extended to seven in a few weeks, and they also lost 5-0 to Bolton Wanderers in midweek.