Preston North End fans are gearing up to travel over 300 miles hoping for a repeat of last weekend's classy display against Cardiff City.
The Lilywhites will have a stern test on their hands against Argyle who are currently fighting to avoid relegation. The Pilgrims are one of only two teams not to reach the 30 point mark this term along with Preston boss Darren Ferguson's former club Peterborough.
Plymouth are sitting in 23rd place in the Championship table on 29 points - five points behind Sheffield Wednesday who occupy the final relegation spot.
North End, on the other hand, are occupying 13th position in the league on 42 points and a win could see them go up to 11th in the table. A positive result at Plymouth will catapult the Whites high on confidence into three home games which could make or break the season.
The last time the two clubs met was in mid-December seeing Preston run out 2-0 victors courtesy of two first half strikes from Ross Wallace and Richard Chaplow. Incidentally, the last time North End won at Home Park was by the same scoreline in the 2004/05 season.
Plymouth Argyle v Preston North End
Coca-Cola Championship
Saturday 6th March 2010
Home Park
Gaffer's Team News
"Richard Chaplow has trained fine so he'll come into contention. He probably would have last week but his wife was a little bit over due in terms of having a baby so for him that has fortunately gone fine - he's had a little boy. So we are all pleased about that and he's trained really well this week so he'll come into my thinking.
"Callum Davidson trained well so we'll see how he is tomorrow - there is a possibility he'll be involved. What we did today he got through fine but ideally you'd like him to get a weeks training.
"Tom Williams didn't train today, he's got a bad back, but he should be fine so eventually we are getting there. Real competition is what I want; it is a healthy thing to have. So we'll so how Callum is tomorrow but Richard is definitely in the squad for Saturday. We have got a lot of games coming up so we have got to try and keep them as fresh as we possibly can.
"We are hoping Danny Welbeck is fit. We sort of know that he is ok but there is Neil Mellor, Chris Brown and Jon Parkin. We have just got to be careful with him because it is a specific spot in his knee and we have got to be sensible with the lad - but he'll be fine. At the moment we might know more next week but we are hopeful that he will involved Saturday.
The Opposition
A familiar face to Lancashire is the Pilgrim's manager Paul Mariner. Their Gaffer started his playing career at Unibond North's Chorley FC and in 1973 caught the eye of Plymouth where his professional career blossomed. Mariner went on to play at the highest level for Ipswich Town and netted 35 games for England scoring an impressive 13 goals.
He took the managerial reins at Plymouth following the departure of Paul Sturrock after a poor start to the season. In Argyle's first ten fixtures they clocked up only five points leaving them at the foot of the table. And it took them as many games to record their first win beating Peterborough United 2-1 on Tuesday 29th September.
Interestingly Mariner's first game in charge was against North End at Deepdale on December 12th and it was one for him to forget! North End's 2-0 win was the fourth of a five game losing streak for Plymouth.
Currently Plymouth entertain Preston on the back of a 4-3 defeat at the hands of Sheffield United. They have picked up five points in as many games managing to pick up a 3-1 away win against in-form Barnsley. Plymouth's have secured eight wins so far, split equally between home and away, but have lost the Championship's joint lowest equalling Peterborough on 19 defeats.
The Devon outfit's top scorer is currently Jamie Mackie with seven league goals to his name - closely followed by Rory Fallon and Alan Judge on five. Judge has impressed in his time at Home Park since signing on a season long loan deal from Preston's local rivals Blackburn Rovers at the start of the season.
Opposition Manager
"We were a different team in the second half, but we gave away some poor goals. You just can't do that in this league.
"We scored three goals away from home, but we got beat. It's pretty obvious what we need to tighten up on. But now we have to go on a run. There's no two ways about it. We just have to.
"They made some fantastic runs into channels and they caused the back four of Sheffield United, which is a decent back four, unbelievable problems, but, just to repeat, you just can't give away poor goals like that."
Paul Mariner talking to the 'Western Morning News' after last weeks 4-3 away defeat to Sheffield United.
Opposition Player
"I'll always think I'm ready to play. Whenever the manager [head coach Paul Mariner] feels I'm ready, I'll go in the team and see what I can do.
"It has been hard, watching the team down there at the wrong end of the table and not being able to help. The team have been under-achieving, and I've not been contributing. It gets frustrating.
"You come to a new club with a plan and you try to make a name for yourself, but it doesn't always work out like that because of injuries, and other people playing well.
"Like any other player, I want to play in the games that are coming up, but it obviously won't go like that. I just want to try to get to where the manager wants me to be and then, when he thinks I'm ready for selection, I'll be ready to go."
Bradley Wright-Phillips will be hoping to return to first team action writes the 'Western Morning News' after playing 90 minutes for their reserves on Tuesday night.
Head-to-Head
PNE's all time record against Plymouth Argyle W25 D16 L19
Last Meeting
Preston 2 Plymouth 0
(Chaplow 10, Wallace 26)
Saturday 12th December 2009
Coca-Cola Championship
Deepdale
PNEBetting.com Odds
Plymouth Argyle 6/4 Draw 9/4 Preston North End 9/5
PNEBetting.com Selected Bet
Jon Parkin to score first in a 2-0 win - 60/1.
PNE Player
Matt Hardman will be down at Home Park for full match commentary from PNE Player.
Any Other Business?
Conor McLaughlin and Neil Dougan look set to travel down with the squad for the game after McLaughlin played 90 minutes for Northern Ireland's U21s on Tuesday and Dougan signed a professional contract at Deepdale on Monday.
