Preview: Plymouth Argyle vs. Huddersfield Town - prediction, team news, lineups

While the home side won League One during 2022-23, the visitors were required to put together a strong run of form at the end of the season to narrowly avoid relegation.

Match preview

There were times during last season when some may have expected Ipswich Town and Sheffield Wednesday to eventually ease Plymouth out of the automatic promotion race in League One.

Instead, it was the higher-profile teams that could not last the pace, Plymouth accumulating 101 points from their 46 games to earn a place in the second tier.

Steven Schumacher has followed that success by conducting what appears to be some shrewd business, last season's key loanees Bali Mumba and Finn Azaz among eight new arrivals at Home Park.

Morgan Whittaker is also back at Plymouth after being recalled by Swansea City in January, and Schumacher has a squad at his disposal that are capable of retaining their status in this division.

While Argyle enjoyed a positive pre-season campaign, losing 3-1 at Swindon Town last weekend was not ideal preparation ahead of what could turn out to be an important fixture come the end of the season.

Meanwhile, Neil Warnock had planned to end his managerial career yet again when successfully keeping Huddersfield in the Championship in 2022-23.

However, the vastly-experienced boss has been tempted back to the dugout yet again, tasked with trying to provide Huddersfield with a much more comfortable campaign than they endured last time.

Although the Yorkshire outfit ultimately finished nine points above the bottom three, that was a result of a last-gasp burst of wins and points deductions for their rivals.

As it stands, senior additions have been limited with experienced goalkeeper Chris Maxwell and Stoke City defender Tom Edwards being brought to the John Smith's Stadium.

Nevertheless, Warnock may be happy with the relative continuity, Huddersfield ending pre-season with wins over Stockport County and Heerenveen without conceding a goal ahead of a return to one of his former clubs.

Plymouth Argyle form (pre-season friendlies):

Huddersfield Town form (pre-season friendlies):

Team News

Schumacher is expected to hand a starting role in attack to Ryan Hardie, rather than Ben Waine who begun the fixture with Swindon.

Julio Pleguezuelo is an option in defence if Schumacher deploys a back three, while Lewis Warrington may be the player to miss out in the race for a midfield spot.

With Azaz returning to the club in recent days, the Aston Villa loanee is only expected to be named on the substitutes' bench at best.

Huddersfield midfielder David Kasumu was forced off in the first half of the Heerenveen fixture through injury, and Jack Rudoni is on standby to deputise with Jonathan Hogg unavailable for this game.

While Kyle Hudlin scored as a substitute versus the Dutch side, the expectation is that the forward will remain among the replacements.

Plymouth Argyle possible starting lineup:

Hazard; Kesler-Hayden, Scarr, Gibson, Mumba; Edwards, Randell, Wright; Whittaker, Hardie, Miller

Huddersfield Town possible starting lineup:

Nicholls; Edmonds-Green, Pearson, Helik; Edwards, Diarra, Kasumu; Ruffels; Thomas, Ward, Jackson

We say: Plymouth Argyle 1-2 Huddersfield Town

This has all the makings of an intriguing fixture with optimism sky-high at Home Park and Warnock expected to continue to deliver for the Terriers. We expect Plymouth to be in this contest throughout the 90 minutes, but the extra quality and nous may come from the visitors.

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