Portsmouth vs Plymouth Argyle. Sky Bet League One.
Fratton ParkAttendance17,923.
Friday 24 November 2017 15:18, UK
Portsmouth will once more be without Brett Pitman when they welcome Plymouth to Fratton Park this weekend.
Pitman was a surprise absentee in the midweek defeat at Peterborough and manager Kenny Jackett revealed Pompey's leading scorer this season was suffering with a hamstring injury that would sideline him for the Argyle clash. Defender Christian Burgess picked up his fifth booking of the season against Posh and will therefore be suspended. Defensive duo Damien McCrory and Tareiq Holmes-Dennis remain sidelined with knee injuries.
Plymouth will once again be without suspended defender Ryan Edwards. The 24-year-old serves the final instalment of the two-match ban he received following his red card in the 4-0 defeat to Oxford last Saturday.
Argyle boss Derek Adams could be tempted to stick with the team that beat Northampton 2-0 on Tuesday. With four of his goalkeepers in the treatment room, Adams was forced to name 16-year-old academy shot-stopper Max Childs on the bench in midweek and he could keep his place in the squad if fellow youngster Michael Cooper fails to recover from a dislocated finger in time.
Including play-offs, Pompey are winless in their last five league meetings with Plymouth (D3 L2). Indeed, they haven't kept a clean sheet in any competition against the Pilgrims since December 1989, conceding at least once in all 19 fixtures since then.
Both teams have scored in each of the last nine meetings between these two sides at Fratton Park (35 goals total; 21 for Portsmouth, 14 for Plymouth), with the away side winning just one of those nine games (D3 L5).
Pompey have conceded just 15 goals in their last 23 league games at Fratton Park, keeping nine clean sheets and conceding more than one goal on just one occasion during that period.
Having previously failed to win in 12 League One matches (D4 L8), the Pilgrims have won three of their last five (D1 L1) keeping three clean sheets in the process.
