Plymouth Argyle vs Oxford United Prediction: Pilgrims to build on cup success

Fresh from causing one of the shocks of the FA Cup third round, the Championship's bottom club, Plymouth Argyle, will be seeking further success when Oxford United visit Home Park in the second tier on Tuesday.

Read on for my Plymouth Argyle vs Oxford United prediction, as well as the latest team news and match odds.

Football Odds

Not many people were giving Plymouth much hope of knocking out Premier League Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday, but Morgan Whittaker's late strike was enough to hand the Pilgrims their first away win since April.

New manager Miron Muslic must have been delighted with his side's performance as he watched on from the stands in west London, and the 42-year-old, who was confirmed as Wayne Rooney's successor last week, is set to take charge of Plymouth for the first time on Tuesday night.

Opponents Oxford know all about a new-manager bounce, with Gary Rowett unbeaten in four Championship matches since taking charge last month, although the U's were knocked out of the FA Cup by League One Exeter at the weekend.

Team News

Plymouth have no fresh injury concerns to contend with and on-loan forward Michael Obafemi is expected to return to the fold after not being involved against Brentford.

Max Woltman (leg) and Ben Nelson (quad) are Oxford's only confirmed injury absentees.

Midfielder Tyler Goodrham is suspended following his red card in the cup defeat at Exeter but the U's are weighing up whether to appeal against his dismissal.

Plymouth Argyle vs Oxford United Odds

Plymouth are marginal 6/4 favourites to follow Saturday's cup heroics with a vital league success at home to Oxford. The visitors, meanwhile, are 7/4 and the draw is 11/5.

Both teams to score is a 4/5 chance while Morgan Whittaker, Plymouth's matchwinner against Brentford, is an 11/2 favourite to open the scoring.

Plymouth to win @ 6/4

If Plymouth can match the levels they produced against Brentford, Argyle could well make a winning start to life under former Cercle Brugge boss Muslic.

The Pilgrims have gone 11 Championship games without success but there were signs of improvement even before their cup triumph in west London.

Plymouth have drawn back-to-back league fixtures against Bristol City and Stoke and they will take comfort from their record at Home Park, where they have accumulated 17 of their 20 points in the Championship and beaten fellow strugglers Luton Town and Portsmouth.

Oxford are another team in the second-tier relegation battle. The U's have picked up 10 points from a possible 12 under new manager Rowett but they are still only five points above the bottom three and have won just once on the road all season.

Saturday's cup defeat to Exeter could have signalled the end of Rowett's honeymoon period in charge, and with Plymouth's potentially just beginning under Muslic, the value may lie in backing a home win in Devon.

Under 37.5 booking points @ 6/5

A match between two sides battling for survival could be expected to be a spiky affair, but neither Plymouth nor Oxford pick up many yellow cards.

Argyle are averaging less than two cautions per league this season while Oxford's tally of 36 yellows is the fewest of the 24 clubs in the Championship.

Plymouth received no cards in their cup win over Brentford and although Oxford picked up three yellows and a red against Exeter, Goodrham's sending off was a tad harsh.

That suggests referee Sam Allison could be in for a quiet evening and backing under 37.5 booking points could be the way to go at Home Park.

Offers

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