The Sky Bet Championship run-in continues on Friday night when events at both ends of the table are in the spotlight as the leaders Leicester City make the long trip to Devon to go up against struggling Plymouth Argyle.
Plymouth have made their intentions to remain in the second tier pretty clear while Leicester have ambitions for getting out of the division so this one has the potential to be a fairly competitive affair with both sides looking for the points.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports Football channel with the build-up to the game beginning at 7.30pm ahead of an 8pm kick off at Home Park.
Plymouth Argyle
It was pretty obvious from the outset that Plymouth Argyle were intent to consolidate in the Championship before looking to progress in the coming seasons. They wouldn’t have had Steven Schumacher leaving midway through the campaign as part of the overall masterplan and decisions since then have held them back a little but they bit the bullet and got rid of another manager prior to the Rotherham game and have been rewarded with four big points from the two games since then.
That has moved the Pilgrims two points above the drop zone and they have the chance to steal a march on those around them and put the pressure on if they can find a win here. Eight of the 11 wins for Plymouth in the Championship this term have been at Home Park but they haven’t won any of their last seven home games at just the wrong time in the campaign. They have only scored three goals in those games too which is less than ideal.
Leicester City
There was a time where Leicester City looked to be cruising to automatic promotion this season if not the Championship title. They were being compared to Burnley for their dominance of the division but then from nowhere they have plateaued in a big way and are now looked in a dogfight to get back into the Premier League. They do still lead the way and have their destiny in their own hands, which at this stage of a season is no bad thing, but they need an improvement in form.
The Foxes go into this match with just three wins in their last nine matches and they have lost five in that spell, including at Millwall on Tuesday night. The short turnaround for this match might be less than ideal too with the intense nature of the way that they play the game. Leicester have lost their last two matches on their travels without scoring and you wonder if the matches are beginning to catch up with them given the intensity they play with.
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Team News
Alfie Devine returned from injury to be on the bench in the 1-1 draw against QPR in midweek and the Spurs loanee will be hoping to start the game for Plymouth Argyle here. Brendan Galloway and Adam Forshaw are others who will be eyeing up bigger contributions.
Leicester City boss Enzo Maresca has confirmed that Australia international Harry Souttar is the only player who isn’t available to be selected in this match. Kasey McAteer has returned to full training and could be selected should the Foxes manager look to freshen things up.
Betting
This is the third match in seven days for Plymouth Argyle and just six for Leicester City with the latter having had a tough schedule of playing in London on Tuesday night and then having to return home and make their way to Plymouth to get ready to kick this game off less than 72 hours later. That doesn’t throw up the sort of scenario where I should expect to see goals, especially as both have been involved in intense matches which have gone to the last minute of injury time.
Plymouth matches don’t tend to be high scoring anyway with just one of their last nine matches having three goals in it and none of their last 11 have had more than three goals. Leicester matches tend to be a little more high scoring but three of their last four have ended 1-0 either way. I’m not sure Plymouth have much in the way of offensive play to worry the Foxes defence but I certainly don’t expect to see Plymouth open up and have a right go here with a point against the leaders definitely not the worst outcome given they have the best goal difference of any team in the relegation fight by some distance. You can get even money on under 3 goals in this one and that line looks a nudge high to me with a full refund for exactly three goals. Leicester will just want to win and get out of here after a challenging period rather than run up the score.
Tips
Back Under 3 goals for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Bet365
