Nigel Pearson drops early Bristol City selection hint for Oxford United clash

Nigel Pearson has revealed he will make changes for Bristol City’s Carabao Cup clash with Oxford United.

The Robins season is up and running after a 1-1 draw with Preston on Saturday. Sam Bell gave the hosts the lead but Will Keane equalised, and now attention turns to the League Cup.

Pearson was unable to call upon a few of his players due to injuries and knocks and had to substitute his captain Andi Weimann early. City have enough depth however to make changes and not weaken the quality of the side.

Several players had to make do with substitute appearances against Preston but could get their chance to start from the off. Last season’s top scorer Tommy Conway only got 20 minutes and will be pushing for a start. The competition like the Championship allows for nine substitutes amongst the bench, with five permitted per much and so some academy players could be included.

“There will be changes, there will be,” he said.

“It won’t just be for change’s sake. We want to win games and throughout pre-season, we’ve had a couple of double-headers and then in games, we’ve made big changes and not looked stronger or weaker. We’ve got a good competition within the squad.”

The usual nature of English football is a double-game week and this will act as the first of two fixtures for City. The home game against Oxford will take place on Wednesday and then a trip to South London to face Millwall on Saturday.

The priority will be to have the strongest team available for Millwall, but Wednesday could act as an opportunity for those that didn’t start against Preston to force their way into his plans at the weekend.

He added: “I don’t look at it in those types of ways, we’re going to try and win the game and make sure we’re ready then for the weekend.