Fitness & Availability

With seemingly no news on Argyle’s collection of injured goalkeepers (Luke McCormick, Kyle Letheren and Robert te Loeke), Kelle Roos should remain for this weekend at least. Should he feature, Gary Miller is on his 4th yellow card of the season and will face a suspension if he picks up one more. There are no other new injury worries for Argyle, although Ruben Lameiras seems unlikely to ever feature again having been spotted playing in friendlies for other clubs.

For Oldham, right-back Cameron Dummigan had a knock that saw him miss out a 1-1 with Doncaster at the weekend but is said to be likely to return. Meanwhile, Gyamfi Kyeremeh is out long-term with a groin problem. Ryan McLaughlin, an important player previously for Oldham, could feature having recently returned from a spell out of the side with a hamstring injury.

 

Predicted line-ups

There are no new injury concerns for Argyle this week, and despite a late equaliser away at Rotherham last week, Derek Adams is likely to name an unchanged side being a manager who errs on the side of caution more frequently than not. Oscar Threlkeld or Yann Songo’o could potentially come into the side, but it is hard to see who Adams would drop and as a manager who likes a lot of stability this seems unlikely considering the team has generally been putting together some decent results. As mentioned, emergency loan ‘keeper Kelle Roos is likely to keep his position in the side.

(4-3-3) Roos; Sawyer, Edwards, Bradley, Taylor-Sinclair; Fox, Diagouraga, Carey; Jervis, Taylor, Grant.

 

Oldham are a team who have been very fluid since Richie Wellens took charge of the club, and this can sometimes make predicting the team a little difficult to predict. However, certain players tend to start when certain formations are played. If Wellens opts to play 4-5-1 as opposed to the 4-4-2, it is likely that former Argyle loanee Tope Obadeyi will play. If he goes for 4-4-2 however, Craig Davies is likely to start having impressed off the bench last week against Doncaster.

(4-4-2) Placide, Dummigan, Gerrard, Bryan, Hunt; Gardner, Bryne, Fane, Nepomuceno; Doyle, Davies.

 

Head to head

Argyle and Oldham have faced each other 43 times in the past in all competitions, with Argyle winning 15, Oldham winning 16 and 12 draws.

The first game between the two clubs came in the 1930/31, where legendary Argyle player Jack Leslie scored in a 1-1 draw in front of nearly 15,000 people at home.

In the 2010/11 season, the last season the two sides met, Oldham won both games, coming out as 4-2 victors at Boundary Park in October 2010 and then beating the Pilgrims 2-0 at Home Park just two and a half months later.

The biggest wins for either side came in 1932 and 1954, both results seeing a 5-0 win for the Greens. However, Oldham’s biggest victory goes down as one of Argyle’s biggest defeats in the club’s history – a 7-1 thrashing in 1972 at Boundary Park.

 

Writer’s view

After a disappointing late equaliser last week against Rotherham, I think Argyle will be keen to set things right this weekend. I doubt we’ll see many, if any changes at all, but I would be keen to see Threlkeld return for Sawyer, with Taylor-Sinclair remaining at left back. I would also like to see Ainsworth given a go in place of Grant, but I suspect that if it was going to happen then it would have done already.

Knowing Oldham are a side who like to move the ball around well, I think we all know how Adams will play it. It wont be pretty (when is it?) but it will be enough to get us a result this weekend. Take our chances when they arrive and keep Eoin Doyle quiet and I can see Argyle winning this one. As a side who can score goals under Wellens, it is important we keep them out and will need to defend well to do so. This could be a good opportunity for Yann Songo’o to come back into the side, having been dropped for no apparent reason a couple of weeks ago.

I will opt for a 2-1 Argyle win, with Carey and Taylor scoring either side of a Doyle goal.