Table-toppers Plymouth Argyle welcome Bolton Wanderers to Home Park for midweek League One action

Bolton Wanderers face a mammoth midweek trip to the South West as they take on current League One table-toppers Plymouth Argyle. 

Ian Evatt’s side sit 10th in League One after gaining promotion from League Two and the Wanderers will look to bounce back from last weekend’s heavy 4-0 defeat against local neighbours Wigan Athletic.

An afternoon marred by crowd trouble at the University of Bolton Stadium marked Bolton’s second consecutive loss, adding to a 1-0 loss against Sheffield Wednesday.

The Trotters’ last league success came against Shrewsbury Town and they will make the 590-mile round trip to trying to ‘stop the slide’.

Their task is no easier than last weekend in terms of opposition though, and in truth, is probably more difficult. Argyle have lost just one of their 13 league games to date in this campaign.

Ryan Lowe’s team, who achieved promotion to the third-tier in 2020, won 3-1 away at Oxford United in their last outing marking a third win in their last five League One matches. They did lose out by the same scoreline at home to Swindon Town in the Papa John’s Trophy earlier this month, but their league form is almost perfect.

Team News

Part of Plymouth’s success so far this season has been their ability to keep players fit. Ahead of Tuesday night’s game at Home Park, manager Ryan Lowe confirmed that he had no new injury concerns to report.

Argyle’s only absentees, Niall Ennis and James Bolton, will both be missing from the action long-term.

In the Bolton camp, the tale is completely different. The injury process started in pre-season with Xavier Amaechi limping off in a friendly against Preston North End.

Bolton boss Ian Evatt confirmed he will be without right-back Gethin Jones who has fractured his fibula, left-back Declan John who is missing through a sore groin, midfielder Kieran Lee due to a sore glute and captain Antoni Sarcevic, who has been playing with an ankle injury which has caused him a lot of pain.

Defender Ricardo Santos will also miss this one through suspension after he picked up his fifth yellow card of the campaign in the Wigan defeat. The same can be said for manager Ian Evatt, who has already earned himself five bookings from the officials throughout this season and will not be on the touchline at Home Park.

Head-to-Head

In 30 meetings between the two sides, the Wanderers have won 15 with Argyle coming out on top 13 times and the other two being draws.

That being said, it was Plymouth who earned the win in their latest encounter against Bolton back in November 2019. Then a League Two outfit, Plymouth won 1-0 away from home in the FA Cup First Round with Callum McFadzean netting for the Pilgrims.

Prior to that, the two hadn’t met since the 1992/93 season. Again, Plymouth were successful in the first meeting of that campaign, winning 2-1 at home but Bolton got the victory in the return fixture with a 3-1 triumph in what is still their most recent success against Argyle in any competition.

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