Plymouth Argyle travel to South London on Saturday where they take on Charlton Athletic in League One.
A bumper crowd is expected at the Valley following the home club’s ‘#FillTheValley’ campaign where season-ticket holders can claim up to three free tickets for their friends and family.
Addicks’ Caretaker manager Johnnie Jackson will be hoping for less dramatics from his players this Saturday after last weekend’s clash with Burton Albion saw a double dismissal less than 20 minutes in – leaving both sides a man down.
However, Ryan Lowe’s Pilgrims will be no walk in the park for Charlton and following comfortable victories against Accrington Stanley and Sheffield Wednesday, the South Coast side are playing at the peak of their powers.
Charlton will be without several first team members for Saturday’s clash.
Akin Famewo and Jayden Stockley are both serving suspensions picked up against Burton, whilst Adam Matthews and Jonathan Leko look unlikely to feature. The pair join long-term absentees Sam Lavelle, Ryan Inniss and Jake Foster-Caskey on the physio’s table.
Defender Chris Gunter and attacker Conor Washington have both returned from international duty and are available to Jackson.
Plymouth have also welcomed back players from international duty, with both Brendan Galloway and Luke Jephcott expected to travel up on Saturday.
George Cooper is available for contention and could make his first league appearance in almost a year following injury problems. The 25-year-old was an unused substitute on Tuesday.
James Bolton and Niall Ennis remain unavailable, though, the latter has returned to full training this week.
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Predicted lineups
Charlton Athletic (3-1-4-2): MacGillivray; Pearce, Clare, Gunter; Dobson; Purrington, Lee, Gilbey, Jaiyesimi; Washington, Davison.
Plymouth Argyle (3-5-2): Cooper; Gillesphey, Scarr, Wilson; Grant, Houghton, Broom, Camara, Edwards; Hardie, Garrick.
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Form guide
Argyle are flying high this season and currently find themselves headlining the table and, even more impressively, on a 16-match unbeaten run. Concentrating on their last five, the South Coast side have accrued 13 points, scoring 13 and conceding four.
Lowe’s side have been prolific in front of goal and last Saturday’s 4-1 victory at Accrington, followed by Tuesday’s 3-0 triumph over Sheffield Wednesday, shows there are no signs of the goals drying up.
The Addicks have hit a purple patch following Nigel Adkins’ departure, picking up 10 points in their last five games – almost double their original points tally.
Since their defeat to Accrington last month, which spelt the end of Adkins’ tenure, Jackson has overseen three wins and a draw. Having scored seven goals and kept three clean sheets in this period, the caretaker manager seems to have his side back to their best, though, Saturday’s fixture will be his toughest test.
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Ones to watch
The 24-year-old joined Argyle in August 2020 from League Two outfit Crawley Town. Camara, who is being monitored by Sean Dyche’s Burnley, has featured in all 17 of the Pilgrims’ league matches so far and is becoming a fan favourite at the club with his high effort levels and goal contributions.
The Bissau-Guinean is flourishing under Lowe, who has moved the player down into the centre of midfield.
Finishing Tuesday’s fixture with two assists and the man of the match award, Camara will prove a handful for the Addicks.
Ben Purrington
Purrington started his career at Argyle, making his way from the academy into the first team before being sold in 2017 to Rotherham United. The defender joined Charlton in 2017 becoming a mainstay throughout their League One and Championship campaigns.
The 25-year-old had only featured twice this season under Adkins but has started all four games in the league since his dismissal.
Purrington has repaid the faith shown to him by Jackson, scoring twice – including last Saturday’s winner against Burton.
The left-back faced the Pilgrims twice last season, playing every minute on both occasions.
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Previous meetings
Plymouth have not fared well against Charlton in recent years, losing their last five league fixtures, though, they have enjoyed recent cup success at the Valley with a 1-0 win last season in the FA Cup first round.
This was Argyle’s first away win against the Addicks in their last five attempts with their last league win dating back to 2007. Over 22,000 fans flocked to South London that day and goals from Sylvan Ebanks-Blake and Barry Hales helped the Pilgrims over the line.
The most notable game between both sides occurred last season when Charlton ran riot at Home Park, scoring six - firing themselves into the playoffs.
The defeat was Plymouth’s eighth in their last 12 and Plymouth Live reported Lowe’s fury the next day, in which the players were called in for extra training.
The match has not been selected for television coverage, though, a match pass is available to purchase via either club’s website for £10 - granted you are viewing from outside of the UK.
Kick-off is 15:00 GMT.
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What has been said
Lowe was clued up on his opposition and, despite the heavy defeat his Pilgrims’ side suffered last time they faced the Addicks, the Argyle boss was optimistic when speaking to the media.
"I don't look back really,” explained Lowe.
“They (Charlton) are a different set of lads, a different team. We are a different set of lads, a different team.
"Charlton have had a bounce back. They are doing well under Jacko. They are probably one of the in-form teams as well at the minute.”
Lowe added: "Jacko has done a fantastic job. He plays the right way. They leave everything out there, which he asks for, and they certainly do that.
"We have got to go there and do what we do. If we do that then hopefully we will have a good afternoon.”
The Addicks’ boss spoke to the club on Thursday and stated his excitement towards seeing the Valley operating close to full capacity this weekend.
“I’m really excited for the game,” claimed Jackson.
“As always it will be an absolute honour for me to lead the team out in front of a packed Valley, it is something I always dreamed of.
“Personally it's going to be great and I know the lads are looking forward to it and I know they'll respond to it, it has got to be made into a great day."
Jackson added: “I expect a tough game. They are top of the table for a reason, because they're playing some really good stuff and scoring a lot of goals - they play a similar way to how we've been playing in the last few games.
“It is going to be a real test for us, we’ll be a good test for them, I think it should be a really exciting game.”
Jackson is looking forward to facing Lowe in the dugout, with the pair striking a friendship whilst on the same EUFA Pro license coaching course.
Jackson said: “He (Lowe) is someone I have a lot of respect for, we'll have to be on our game, they're going to pose us a lot of threats, I've always said I think that we can cause any team threats, if we get our stuff right we can win the game.”