Revenge not on Curle's mind as Cobblers welcome in-form Oxford

Revenge will not be on Keith Curle's mind when his side welcome in-form Oxford United to the PTS Academy Stadium later this afternoon.

Only last month the injury-ravaged Cobblers crumbled to a thumping 4-0 defeat at the hands of Karl Robinson's side who, at the time, were below Cobblers in the table.

However, that win has sparked a revival and Oxford have won all three league games since, scoring 10 goals in the process, to leap into the top half of League One, motoring clear of Northampton.

"Every game we go into, we want to win," said Curle. "It's the same when we play against a team that we beat previously - it doesn't make the game any easier. I'm sure Oxford will be aware of that as well.

"If you go back to the last game and look at the defence we put out, it will be a very different defence tomorrow. Every game is different and every game has different challenges but it's another opportunity for us to gain three points.

"Oxford are a good team. They were play-off finalists last season so we know they're a good team and they have a good structure and they also have that familiarity of consistently playing League One football.

"We know what we're up against and we know they have threats but we also know we can cause them problems."

Although they were beaten by MK Dons in the EFL Trophy on Tuesday, Town have some momentum behind them in the league with four points from the last two. The signings of Ryan Edmondson and Mickel Miller this week should also provide a boost.

"We're getting players back and we're bringing new players in," said Curle. "There's a freshness that we needed.

"When you want to continue an upward spiral, you need to keep progressing and bringing in better players and that's the position we're in.

"Because of the housekeeping we showed previously, we're able to maintain that progression by signing, in my opinion, better players and bringing them into the squad."