The latest chapter in the Portsmouth and Plymouth rivalry unfolds at Fratton Park tomorrow as unbeaten Pompey host bottom dwelling Argyle.
Team News
New loan signings Andre Green and Joe Mason could be in line for their Pompey debuts tomorrow but Dion Donohue is still ruled out with a groin injury. Nathan Thompson could return to the side.
Stuart O'Keefe is set to make his Plymouth debut against his former club with Graham Carey expected to return to the side after the midweek cup defeat at Millwall.
The Match
Joe Mason could well be an excellent loan signing from Wolves given his prolific record for Bolton in the past and his introduction to tomorrow's game will carry extra weight given that he began his career at Plymouth and supported them as a boy.
That's if he plays, of course. One player who should start is Andre Green and it'll be interesting to see how he plays given the fury of the Aston Villa fans who were unhappy to see him leave. It'll also be interesting to see who he replaces in the starting XI.
Indeed, Pompey's business in the transfer window recently has seen Kenny Jackett make a statement of intent. Not only does his squad have a solid backbone but there are now a multitude of attacking options for him to choose from. The expectation now should be to comfortably finish in the play-off places.
More immediate expectations will be to put struggling Argyle to the sword tomorrow with Derek Adams banned from the touchline and his side winless in the league with just two points taken from a possible fifteen.
It would be wise to be cautious, however, given the history of this fixture and how Adams managed to turn things around last season after his woeful team were beaten by a comical goal at Fratton. There are still players in the Greens' squad such as Graham Carey and Joel Grant who are capable of doing some damage.
However, despite losing their 100% record with a creditable draw at Doncaster last week, Pompey are brimming with confidence and should have too much quality for Plymouth no matter who the manager picks.
Predicted Starting Line-Ups
Pompey
GK: Craig MacGILLIVRAY
RB: Anton WALKES
CB: Jack WHATMOUGH
CB: Matt CLARKE
LB: Lee BROWN
RM: Jamal LOWE
CM: Ben THOMPSON
CM: Gareth EVANS
LM: Jamal LOWE
CF: Ronan CURTIS
CF: Oli HAWKINS
Plymouth
GK: Matt MACEY
RB: Tafari MOORE
CB: Scott WOOTTON
CB: Niall CANAVAN
LB: Gary SAWYER
DM: Yann SONGO'O
RM: Graham CAREY
CM: Stuart O'KEEFE
CM: Antoni SARCEVIC
LM: Connor GRANT
CF: Ryan TAYLOR
Last Time: Portsmouth 1 Plymouth Argyle 0 (League One - 25/11/2017)
Kal Naismith scored the only goal of this low quality encounter as he stole the ball from goalkeeper Remi Matthews and guided it into an empty net to send Argyle to the bottom of the league.
My Prediction
Despite Argyle's woeful form, they are bound to turn up for this game and I wouldn't put it past them to shithouse a 1-0 win to get their season going.
However, all the logic points to a comfortable home win and maybe a debut goal or two, too.
Portsmouth 3 Plymouth Argyle 1