Wanderers are back at the UniBol as they host Oxford United in League One on Saturday afternoon.

The U’s finished sixth in League One last season, narrowly missing out on a trip to Wembley after losing to Blackpool in the play-offs.

Marc Iles caught up with James Roberts from the Oxford Mail to get the lowdown on Karl Robinson’s men.

Oxford have started the season strongly…

Yeah, a bit of a rarity under Karl Robinson. Usually, United start badly and end the season like a train and sneak into the play-offs or something like that.

But seven points from three games – the performance on Tuesday (against Crewe) wasn’t brilliant but points is the most important thing at this stage of the season. There are a lot of promising signs so far.

Is there optimism they can go all the way this season?

The start - and beating teams like Charlton who have brought in some decent players and have a proven manager – was a bit of a statement. This is probably the best squad Robinson has had at United.

They have signed lots of players with League One quality and experience. Obviously, injuries play a part – and they are already just a couple of weeks into the season. But I think there is optimism of a play-off push at least.

It’s a competitive league as everyone knows. There are often teams who think at the start of the season they will finish top six, and end up finishing 12th because it is that competitive.

But I think there is a fair amount of optimist that Oxford are well-placed to get into the top six.

There has been a lot of spending in League One this summer. What is the feeling at Oxford?

It is something Robinson speaks about a lot – ‘punching above their weight’. It is true to an extent – their budget isn’t top six, but it isn’t far off because there are some backers there that have a bit of money behind them.

Since the end of May, Robinson has been speaking about Ipswich and Wigan especially. But he tries to buy smart and there have been a couple of signings over the years that have been on decent wages and haven’t worked out.

But he has got players in on loan and on frees, and only paid a fee for two players this summer. It is more about buying right rather than the marquee signings that will make everyone sit up and take notice.

And how is James Henry getting on?

He is one of the longest-serving players – one of the few that have been there ever since Robinson joined. He scored on Tuesday – pushing towards 200 games and 50 goals for the club.

He was a bit off for the first half of last season, but otherwise he is highly regarded. He is great from set-pieces and crossing – him and Matty Taylor have a great relationship.

He probably doesn’t have the speed he had at Bolton but he’s still looking as sharp as ever. With his attributes, he could go on for another couple of years at least.

Who else should Wanderers look out for?

There are many players I think could go on to have brilliant seasons.

Cameron Brannagan in midfield, last season he had his time disrupted by a rare eye condition that almost left him blind. He has got a pre-season under his belt and scored on Saturday. He drives the team forward and is tenacious with and without the ball.

Jordan Thorniley has come in front Blackpool on a season-long loan and played every minute of the four games at centre back. He has been thrown in at the deep end and barely put a foot wrong. He is only 24 and looks experienced beyond his years.

Steve Seddon as well at left back, who has done well at this division before with Portsmouth and Wimbledon. He scored on the opening day against Cambridge.

And finally, what is your score prediction?

Oxford are in good form but have a couple of injury worries. I do rate Bolton and they got a very decent win at Lincoln on Tuesday night.

But I’m going to go 2-1 to Oxford.