In today’s Carabao Cup draw, Plymouth Argyle learned that they would face Queens Park Rangers in the opening round of the competition. The game will take place at Home Park, and is expected to be played at some point across the weekend of 5th/6th September. However, this is an international weekend, so as of yet the possibility of the game being rearranged cannot be ruled out. Should it go ahead as planned, the game against QPR will be Argyle’s first of the new campaign due to the scheduling of the coming season as a result of the COVID-19 havoc.
QPR will start the new season in the Championship having finished 13th in the second tier last season. They found themselves in the play-off hunt in the early stages, but a winless November was something they were unable to really recover from. Still, they were in superb form before lockdown struck, and who knows how their season would have panned out but for the disruption to the season?
Traditionally, Argyle have struggled in the competition. The Pilgrims have been regular first round casualties since the turn of the Millennium, with an agonising third round exit against West Ham in 2007 the furthest Argyle have been in the last 20 years. However, they have had success more recently in the cup. The Greens have won in the first round for the last two years against Bristol City and Leyton Orient, and have suffered agonising late defeats to Championship opponents Millwall (3-2) and Reading (4-2) in round two.
Argyle will of course be looking to go deeper into the competition this time. QPR will no doubt start as favourites, even with Argyle holding home advantage, but the Greens can take heart from their performances across the last two years in their quest to cause an upset.