OXFORD United will take on second-placed Wigan Athletic with a depleted squad after several withdrawals in the last 48 hours.

Four players have tested positive for Covid this week, while Nathan Holland is out with a tight hamstring.

Influential midfielders Cameron Brannagan and Herbie Kane are among those missing today, as is centre back Luke McNally.

Jordan Thorniley (suspended), Jack Stevens, Jamie Hanson (hamstring), Sam Winnall and Joel Cooper (hip) are also unavailable, as is long-term absentee Alex Gorrin.

It means Sam Long partners Elliott Moore at centre back, James Henry will operate in a holding midfield role and Ryan Williams makes his first Sky Bet League One start since September 4.

Youngsters Ben Davis and James Golding feature on a league bench for the first time, although United have only named six substitutes.

Head coach Karl Robinson said: “It has been an interesting 48 hours.

“On Thursday, it was only Luke McNally who was out. About six have come over the last 48 hours.”

He added: “Herbie and Cameron were yesterday.

“Everything’s against us, but we believe we can still compete today. Look at the players we’ve still got playing today, it’s depleted but still a very strong team.

“If you take away James Henry playing out of position, I think it’s an outstanding team.

“Luckily enough we got that (behind closed doors) game in on Tuesday and a lot of players are fresh and raring to go from that.”

United’s scheduled trip to Wigan on November 20 was postponed after seven players tested positive for Covid, leaving Robinson with a threadbare squad for the following two games.

He said: “We’ll play them with ten players out, we’ve played against Rotherham with 12 out.

“So when we’ve played the top two here, we’ve had 22 or 23 players out for the two games.”