Oxford winger Phillips out for 'a few months'

Oxford United boss Gary Rowett has revealed winger Matt Phillips is likely to be out for "a few months" with a quadricep injury sustained against Leicester last week.

"This pre-season he has looked pretty sharp," Rowett told BBC Radio Oxford.

"He has good foundations and I thought you saw that in his performance against Leicester. It was one of his best performances, very bright, and then he has got an injury to curtail that.

"I think he actually felt something go in his quad. I'll leave the exact details down to the medical team - it looks like it is probably going to be a few months rather than a few weeks."

Oxford lost all three of their opening league fixtures, but have secured back-to-back 2-2 draws against Coventry and Leicester to sit 22nd in the Championship.

The U's travel on Saturday to face a Bristol City side (15:00 KO) which is unbeaten so far in the league, sitting two points behind early leaders Middlesbrough.

"We know we are playing a tough game," Rowett added. "We know we are playing away from home, which caused us some problems last season. However, it is about us trying to build on that and to build on those performances.

"They [City] are a very well coached team and are very structured and have scored a few goals in the early season so we will have to be mindful of their attacking threat."