The Lasses travel to the Stadium of Light this weekend (kick-off 2pm GMT) to face second-place Sunderland Women in the Women's Super League 2, with Oxtoby delighted to have a full week for her players to recover and prepare.
United are currently unbeaten in the league, and that comes largely down to work which went on during pre-season and the team only focusing on their own performances.
Oxtoby is excited for another big game on Sunday but remains aware of the challenges Sunderland could pose.
Here are some of the manager’s main talking points from her pre-match interview:
On last week’s 3-0 win against Burnley…
“I really enjoyed watching it back. There were a lot of patterns of play and things we’ve been going after that were executed really well and consistently.
“There are, of course, still some bits to get better at, no doubt about that, but I was really pleased.
“To walk out at St. James’ Park and see that banner, Tanya Oxtoby’s Black and White Army, was just a real pinch me moment.”
On facing Sunderland…
“Two teams in really good form with really good squads. It’s a great challenge for us and that’s what we’ve been talking about; the fact that we want to be pushed and we want to see how good we can be.
“We should embrace moments like this because it’s a positive thing.”
On what she wants from her players…
“We talk a lot about making sure we’re proactive, and that we’re not being reactive to a certain game or a certain instant.
“We want to make sure that we’ve got our tools in the toolbox to be able to deal with that, and we’ve been working on that from pre-season, all the way through to now.
“We are who we are, and we want to go out and play our style of football, but it will be against a really good side. We're going to have to think outside of the box in terms of solving problems when they appear.”
On having a full week to prepare…
“I think league fixtures should always take priority on a weekend and we’re the beneficiary of that this time around, but we weren’t when we played Forest.
“There is a piece around reflecting and making sure that the league takes priority and making sure that doesn’t impact league performances. For us, it’s about making sure we’re focused and really homing in on what we’re going after.”
On the supporters…
“They’re the best and you saw that on the weekend. We have the best fans and I know that they will come out in their numbers. I know that they will bring their voices.
“For us, our responsibility in that is to make sure that we put on a good performance they can be proud of, like we did last weekend.”
