Yanic Wildschut believes Oxford United have “too much quality” to be relegated.

Wildschut joined United from Bulgarian club CSKA Sofia last summer for an undisclosed fee.

However, the winger suffered a ‘severe’ hamstring issue in a pre-season friendly at AFC Wimbledon in his first appearance for the club.

After enduring a stop-start campaign, the Suriname admits that when joining he hoped the club would be fighting at the other end of the table.

He said: “Everyone at the start of the season thought we were going to be up there.

“The reality of where we are now is these nine games are incredibly important. We have to give it our all.

“We have too much quality, we put too much work to go down.

“We know we are in a tough situation but we are going to do our all to get as many points.

“Everyone believes we are going to get good results.

“It’s not easy the teams we have to play in April but that makes it more challenging and more enjoyable because these are the big games you want to play.”

United face Peterborough, Sheffield Wednesday, Port Vale, Bolton Wanderers, Portsmouth, Barnsley, Cheltenham and Forest Green in a packed month.

Their final game is against fellow relegation candidates Accrington Stanley on May 7.

Wildschut said: “I prefer playing against these teams, nothing against the teams that are lower, but these are teams that want to play and that suits us a bit more.

“Obviously we have to come fighting, battling and grafting but I like to play more footballing opponents.

“That helps us maybe even if you look at the table it’s not in our favour but I think it is better for us.”

The United forward labelled each remaining game as a “final”.

He continued: “We are in this situation because of how we have performed, it has not been good enough everyone knows and unfortunately that has led to a manager leaving and a new one coming in.

“We have said with the new manager there is no point in looking back.

“We had ten finals at the time, now we have nine left.

“You can see some bits in the last game where we were picking up his style.”

Wildschut feels he has something to repay the club after they brought him back to England.

He played for a host of Sky Bet Championship clubs between 2014 and 2019 including Middlesbrough and Norwich City.

He said: “I came back to England because I loved it here and I wanted to come here and play for something.

“Obviously with the start, we haven’t got the things we wanted in the beginning.

“For me to get injured in my first game on my third day here was the worst possible start.

“I have been playing catch up a little bit with getting my fitness back after so many games out.

“For myself, lately I feel sharper and I just hope these last nine games I can help with goals and assists.

“Even I if don’t them but we get the win, just working hard for the team that’s just as important for me because I have missed such a big part of the season.

“I want to play well and pay back the club for bringing me back [to England].”