Oxford United vs Coventry - Oxford's Liam Sercombe suffers serious knee injury ahead of Coventry clash

Oxford will be without midfielder Liam Sercombe for the visit of Coventry on Saturday.

Sercombe ruptured the medial ligament in his knee during the closing minutes of their defeat at Shrewsbury last week and is now likely to face six months on the sidelines after scans revealed the extent of the injury.

Midfielders Ryan Ledson and Joe Rothwell hope to retain their places in the starting line-up while forward Wes Thomas is in contention to start for the U's.

Sam Long continues to recover from a knee problem while defender Christian Ribeiro remains a long-term absentee with an ankle injury.

Coventry's caretaker boss Mark Venus has no fresh injury concerns for the trip to the Kassam Stadium.

Venus made five changes for the FA Cup first-round replay win over Morecambe on Tuesday, with Vladimir Gadzhev coming in for his first start in eight games after recovering from a knee problem.

On-loan pair Lewis Page and Dan Agyei were forced to sit out the replay but are back in contention this time around.

Chris McCann (hamstring) and Chris Stokes (knee) are missing, with defender Sam Ricketts retiring from football earlier in the week following his own knee injury.