KENNY Jackett expects Oxford United to be in the mix for promotion this season.

The experienced manager brings his Portsmouth side to the Kassam Stadium tomorrow.

And he knows all about two of their new faces, having signed them when in charge of Wolves.

He told The News: “Oxford have brought some good players in such as James Henry and Mike Williamson in from Wolves and will be aspiring to do well and build on a very solid year last year and trying to get into the promotion places.

“It will be an interesting test for us, we will respect any opponent and try to work out their strengths and weaknesses.”

Like United, newly-promoted Pompey won their opening game of the Sky Bet League One season 2-0, before losing after extra time in the Carabao Cup first round.

The 2-1 defeat at Cardiff City still gave Jackett encouragement.

He said: “The players have given me food for thought, they have been enthusiastic and in the two games performed very well.

“We want to be competitive, hard to play against, tough at the back and that has been the case in the two games.”

“On top of that, we want to be expansive in our football and play quality football which creates chance.”