Preview: Plymouth Argyle vs. Leeds United FA CUP REPLAY

By fighting back to earn a 1-1 draw in their original FA Cup fourth-round tie, Plymouth Argyle forced a replay with fellow Championship side Leeds United, to be played at Home Park on Tuesday.

A trip to Premier League territory awaits the victor of the midweek battle, as either Chelsea or Aston Villa will be lying in wait for a fifth-round showdown.

ust past the half-hour mark at Elland Road on January 27, Leeds winger Jaidon Anthony scored a goal worthy of winning any FA Cup tie; cutting inside from the left, evading futile Plymouth challenges and curling home with panache before paying an emotional tribute to his late mother.

Ian Foster's side still had one more trick up their sleeve, though, as with 17 minutes of normal time remaining, Mustapha Bundu picked out the run of Adam Randell with a delicate pass, and the midfielder did the rest with a composed finish to dampen the spirits of the Elland Road faithful.

After surviving a couple more scares in their own penalty area, Foster's men departed with a rematch pencilled into their February diaries and with a prime opportunity to reach the fifth round of the FA Cup for the first time since 2006-07; they have been dumped out three times in the fourth round since then.

Two such exits came in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons to Sheffield United and Chelsea respectively before an embarrassing first-round loss to Grimsby Town last year, but Plymouth have been building up a head of steam under Foster and made it back-to-back Championship victories during a Swansea City sojourn at the weekend.

Remaining loyal to the Green Army amid frequent speculation of a January move to the Premier League, Morgan Whittaker's 16th Championship goal of the season propelled Plymouth to a 1-0 success - extending their unbeaten run to six matches - and Home Park is certainly where the heart is for Tuesday's hosts.

Without defeat on their own turf since coincidentally going down 3-1 to Swansea on October 7, Plymouth have remarkably scored at least two goals in each of their last nine matches at Home Park - including three in each of their last five - so Leeds may live to regret their wasted chances two weekends ago.

However, failure to see off Foster's side represents the only blot on the Whites' 2024 notebook so far, as each of the visitors' other six matches since the turn of the year have ended in victory, including Saturday's taxing Championship affair with Bristol City.

Emulating Plymouth with a 1-0 away success, a solitary Wilfried Gnonto strike was all it took for Daniel Farke's men to make it five Championship wins on the bounce, keeping the third-placed Whites within just a point of second-placed Southampton, albeit having played a game more.

Shutting out the Robins also saw the resilient Whites record their fifth clean sheet from their golden seven-match sequence - in which Randell's Elland Road equaliser is just one of two goals they have conceded - and they have been eliminated from just one of their last four FA Cup fourth-round ties.

Furthermore, Leeds head to Home Park with a 10-game unbeaten run to protect against Plymouth - whose last win in this fixture came all the way back in the 1988-89 season - although Tuesday's replay will represent the first showdown on Argyle's turf since November 2006.

Since leaving Elland Road with their heads held high, Plymouth Argyle have added teenage left-back Lino Sousa to their ranks from Aston Villa - who poached him from Arsenal before loaning him to Home Park - but as the 19-year-old was not registered to Plymouth for the original tie, he is unavailable for Tuesday's game.

Fellow January arrival Darko Gyabi will also be absent again on account of being unable to face his parent club, while Tottenham Hotspur-owned Alfie Devine is cup-tied, having turned out for Port Vale earlier in the competition.

Goalscorer Randell and Callum Wright should step in for the ineligible duo on Tuesday, but Foster and co welcome Leeds to their headquarters bereft of any fitness concerns.

In contrast, Leeds still have a trio of defensive injury victims to work around for the midweek replay, as Stuart Dallas (hip), Pascal Struijk (groin) and Karl Darlow (finger) are all in the infirmary at the time of writing.

One rearguard boost has arrived in the shape of Burnley loanee Connor Roberts, but for the same reason as Sousa, the Welshman also cannot take part in the replay. However, Jamie Shackleton and Sam Byram are available to freshen the team up in the full-back positions.

Anthony was only brought on for the dying embers of the Bristol City win, but the Bournemouth loanee ought to demote Crysencio Summerville to the bench at Home Park, where Patrick Bamford's spot in the attack is also under threat from Joel Piroe.


Plymouth Argyle possible starting lineup:
Hazard; Galloway, Phillips, Gibson; Mumba, Randell, Roberts, Miller; Whittaker, Wright; Hardie

Leeds United possible starting lineup:
Meslier; Shackleton, Ampadu, Rodon, Firpo; Gruev, Kamara; Gnonto, Rutter, Anthony; Piroe

Plymouth Argyle FA Cup form:
WD

Plymouth Argyle form (all competitions):
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Leeds United FA Cup form:
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Leeds United form (all competitions):
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Who will win Tuesday's FA Cup clash between Plymouth and Leeds?

Plymouth Argyle 75.0%  Leeds United  25.0%

Taken from the Web


Referee: Robert Jones

He has issued 107 yellow cards and four reds in 24 games.

Assistant referees: Stuart Burt & Dan Cook

Fourth official: John Busby

There is a big pay day if we win this game i wonder whats going to pay more this game on the bbc or the game on sky when we play leeds?

Cheers Ivor.

Lots of activity up at HP this morning obviously preparing for tomorrow. When was the last time Argo were live on BBC1? Can't remember if the Chelsea game was on the beeb.

Freathy wrote:

Lots of activity up at HP this morning obviously preparing for tomorrow.  When was the last time Argo were live on BBC1?  Can't remember if the Chelsea game was on the beeb.

think it was the bbc Chelsea game was on & the Liverpool game was then BT as I remember that dick Mcmanaman taking the piss out of Argyle as he was doing part com for the game up at Anfield very unprofessional and blatant taking the piss the retch

Seats still available in all parts of the ground, albeit only single seats. Currently not quite looking like being a sell out. Something Hallett no doubt use as evidence that the stadium is plenty big enough already despite the game being live on free to air BBC1

My garden shed!
Is bigger than this!
etc etc

Freathy wrote:

Seats still available in all parts of the ground, albeit only single seats.  Currently not quite looking like being a sell out.  Something Hallett no doubt use as evidence that the stadium is plenty big enough already despite the game being live on free to air BBC1

My garden shed!
Is bigger than this!
etc etc

considering we play Leeds again at home the following week which is also on tv i guess its a case of why have dinner before dinner with some fans.

Leeds United squad revealed for Plymouth Argyle FA Cup tie

Leeds United squad for Plymouth Argyle: Meslier, Klaesson, Van den Heuvel, Gray, Rodon, Byram, Firpo, Cooper, Cresswell, Ampadu, Kamara, Gruev, Gnonto, Summerville, Anthony, Piroe, Rutter, Bamford, Gelhardt, Joseph.

Will be loads of empty seats on TV tonight as it's not a sell out plus many who have purchased tickets will have looked at the weather forecast and thought no way jose! Who would want to sit in the lower Mayflower tonight FFS.

our bench looks very threadbare due to injuries and players being cup tied!!!! however Sousa didnt play for Arsenal in the cup yet he's not on the bench at least i find that a tad strange.

doing ok at the moment.

I don’t see Joe Edwards getting much game time for the rest of the season

Graiser wrote:

I don’t see Joe Edwards getting much game time for the rest of the season

I dont see him being a regular starter but he will get game time from the bench im sure.

thats the cup over with for another season. we did well but it was not to be the levels of us and them with there resources available to them tonight cost us in extra time.

First touch,pace and movement too much for Argyle in the end but the team certainly put in a huge shift tonight and 4-1 is a bit cruel. Didn't help that Leeds could bring on Summerville and Bamford while Argyle had nobody on the bench who you would truthfully look at as a match turner. Apart from isolated instances, Argyle could never get Hardie or Whittaker into the positions where they could damage Leeds but i've got a feeling that the league game could be a different matter as long as a full squad can be fielded. Trip to Villa or Chelsea would have been nice but back to the league now and Sunderland, which i suppose is not the fixture you'd want after a gruelling 120 minutes and definitely a couple of days rest and recuperation is needed.

Just got back cold, soaked and royally pissed off. Sheer gulf in class between Leeds and Argo is frightening. If I didn't know I would never in a million years believe the two teams were in the same division. I also have a ticket for the league match on 17th but really not sure I want to go as it will be exactly the same.

I thought we were awful tbh.