Greason previews the U's games against QPR (away) and Southampton (home).

The next four U's games could make or break the U's season. Christmas is usually a time of rejoicing, but if the U's fail to pick up at least a couple of wins over the next fortnight or so, they could soon be waving goodbye to their time in the Championship.

On the positive side, three of the fixtures are very winnable - while Charlton have struggled at home in recent weeks and look to be entering the Festive season with something of an injury crisis at The Valley.

However, we're getting ahead of ourselves as first and foremost, on Saturday the U's travel to West London to take on QPR. The Hoops will be buoyed by the latest news that sees the Mittall Family take a 20% stake in the club. London-based Indian industrialist Lakshmi Mittall is reputed to be the fifth richest person in the world with a personal fortune of US$51 billion! Coming hot on the heels of the investment made by Flavio Briattore and Bernie Eccleston. No wonder they are pleased - though the news that they are willing to offer £2 million for the services of ex-U's man Rowan Vine suggests that money doesn't necessarily buy any common sense!

The U's chances of success are boosted though, by the fact that Rangers are unable to spend any of these vast sums of money until January and even then, Italian manager Luigi De Canio will have to invest it wisely. Whether the former Reggiana boss, who had limited success in Italian football, knows enough about English football by that time we'll have to wait and see!

The Hoops are currently bottom of the table thought level on points with the U's having conceded seven more goals than United. They've won just two home games this season, losing five, and have scored just seven goals in the process. One of those wins came under caretaker boss Mick Harford against a very poor Norwich side, with the other a 2-0 victory over Hull City at the beginning of November. Rangers have shown sides of improvement in their last three games though with a two all draw at Scunthorpe followed by a two goal win at Burnley with Vine and Damian Stewart the scorers. Their last home game saw them fight out a goalless draw against Wolves though Stephen Elliott will still be wondering today how he managed to miss with the goal unprotected which would have given the visitors the lead.

On Boxing Day attention turns to Layer Road and the visit of Southampton and with it, former manager George Burley who will, no doubt, be subjected to some banter from the U's fans who still haven't forgiven him for walking out on the club on Christmas Day 1994. The Saints are one of a number of clubs in the Division who appear to be going through board room upheaval amid talks to takeovers and financial problems.

Football-wide, The St Mary’s outfit are in the middle of the table some ten points clear of the U's and, it has to be said that a couple of wins on the trot would put them right in the thick of the clubs battling it out for the play-offs.

Away from home, Southampton have won a reasonable four games, and picked up their first away draw of the season at Coventry City on Saturday afternoon as Bradley Wright-Phillips cancelled out Jay Tabbs opener for the Sky Blues. That means Burley's men are unbeaten in their last four games with a goalless draw at home to Sheffield Wednesday and a 4-0 thrashing of Hull City with Stern John grabbing a hat-trick following on from a 2-1 win at Leicester City with Surman's penalty the decisive goal.

United have, of course, played both of these sides already this season with some success. The first game was against the Saints with Mark Yeates cross-shot taking a deflection off Rudi Skacel to level the scores up after Wright-Phillips' goal six minutes earlier in the second half.

At the beginning of October, the U's recorded their first home win of the season over The Hoops in an entertaining fixture where both defences decided to take a night off! Liegertwood opened the scoring for the U's with an own goal after Lee Camp had diverted Yeates' shot on to the post and crossbar! Parity was restored by former U's loanee Hogan Ephraim who cut inside the box and fired past Dean Gerken. The West Ham youngster respectfully decided against celebrating his goal against the side which game him a chance last season - quite unlike some players in recent weeks! Kem Izzet scored with a header less than a minute later though before Yeates' free-kick found its way through the wall and into the net as the U's went in to the break 3-1 up. Vine pulled a goal back after the break but Clive Platt's header midway through the second half ended the goal scoring.

Graeson's Team

Clearly difficult to suggest who will play on Boxing Day as it depends so much on who is fit from Saturday's game. However, I'd be looking to utilise as many of the players as possible as fitness will be key to winning or losing.

My team for the QPR game will see the same back four as lined up against Norwich though I'd still be very tempted to play Bela Balogh who was impressive in the game for the reserves in mid-week. Given the Hoops previous reliance on a physical front pairing I might even give George Elokobi the nod at left-back as he appears to be able to cope with that better than Granville.

Midfield is unlikely to change unless Duguid has recovered from his ankle knock. Kevin McLeod is a former QPR player so I'll be asking him to show the Loftus Road crowd what they are missing - while I'd be asking both McLeod and Yeates to get the ball in to the box much earlier. First time in fact as that will give Platt and Lisbie the opportunity to attack the ball instead of having to wait - and thus allowing the defenders to set themselves for the cross. For the Boxing Day encounter I'd be looking to use Teddy Sheringham from the start instead of Platt as I feel it’s more likely to be a tactical battle and his eye for a pass might be crucial. Jamie Guy will get twenty minutes at the end of both games to show just what he can do as his raw pace will frighten a tiring defence.

Graeson's Prediction

The one good thing about the U's current predicament is that the problems are occurring at the right end. The U's know that they can, at the very least, score goals. Stopping goals being conceded is a much simpler proposition than scoring them and that's why the price for a Championship -class striker is much higher than that of a central defender in the same league.

And it’s this ability to score goals that I believe will pay dividends over the weekend. Lisbie's pace will cause problems for the back line while Barker, who spent most of last season at Layer Road, struggled to cope with Mark Yeates at Layer Road. Therefore, I can realistically see the U's winning this one by the odd goal in three with Lisbie and Yeates grabbing the goals.

Boxing Day might well be tougher but I think the U's will put on a Festive display for us all with that rarest of things - a clean sheet. One goal will be enough to secure the points that will see the U's go into the New Year games with more optimism than ever before. This time it will be Jamie Guy who is the Layer Road hero with the late goal.

Photo: Action Images

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