It is a battle of two of League One's promotion playoff contenders as Plymouth Argyle host Sunderland in a Monday night fixture. Plymouth have been formidable at Home Park and with the visitors not particularly convincing on their travels, they will be confident of gaining the upper hand here.
Plymouth Argyle are coming off a 2-0 defeat to Wycombe Wanderers in their previous League One fixture. They went into the break two goals down and despite seeing more of the possession, lacked the cutting edge in attack, finishing with just two attempts on target.
The task for Plymouth for the rest of the season will be to fend off the chasing pack and hold on to fourth position on the table. However, they have looked slightly off colour and have claimed just one win room their last four matches.
The good news for Plymouth is they have been on the road a lot lately with their only win in the last four matches a 1-0 victory over Oxford United at Home Park. That result means they have now won their last six matches in front of their fans, keeping clean sheet in all six wins.
Sunderland were victorious in their previous League One fixture as they triumphed 3-2 over Shrewsbury Town. Elliott Embleton opened the scoring early in the first half while Nathan Broadhead netted a brace, including an injury-time winner.
That was the third straight win for Sunderland and it kept alive their playoff hopes. Alex Neil’s men are currently sixth on the table and while attempting to chase down Plymouth, must also cast a wary eye on Sheffield Wednesday and Oxford, who are breathing down their neck.
While Sunderland will be keen to maintain their winning run, they have found things difficult on their recent travels. They have claimed just two wins from their last nine away matches and have failed to score in two of their last three fixtures on the road.
How the bookies view it
The bookies appear to be split on this one with a win for Plymouth Argyle priced at 32/19 with SBK while a Sunderland victory is valued at 17/10 by Coral. Betfred is also offering odds of 12/5 for a draw.
Head to head
Sunderland have a 6-3 advantage from nine previous matches with Plymouth Argyle. The Black Cats also claimed a 2-1 victory in the reverse fixture back in December.
Players to watch
Plymouth Argyle’s recent home record has been driven by a solid defence that has kept clean sheets in the last six matches on their own patch. Daniel Scarr, James Wilson and Macaulay Gillesphey have a formidable partnership at the back and can lead the hosts to another clean sheet at 12/5 with William Hill.
At the other end of the pitch, Ryan Hardie will be the one to watch for Plymouth as he looks to add to his 16 League One goals this season. The striker has also scored in four of his last five matches at Home Park and is priced at 2/1 by bet365 to find the net on Monday.
Anything else catch the eye?
There has been under 2.5 goals in five of Plymouth Argyle’s last six matches and with Sunderland struggling for goals on their recent travels, a repeat could be on the cards at 10/11 with SBK. Given Plymouth’s defensive record on their turf, BTTS NO could also be considered at 6/5 with BetVictor.
Plymouth Argyle have been the only team to score in their last six home matches and Monday’s clash could be tipped to follow a similar pattern at 18/5 with William Hill.
This English League One match between Plymouth Argyle and Sunderland will be played on Apr 18, 2022 and kick off at 15:00. Check below for our tipsters best Plymouth Argyle vs Sunderland prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
