Plymouth Argyle vs Cheltenham Town Prediction: Cheltenham aiming to avoid first round exit

Plymouth Argyle will welcome Cheltenham Town at Home Park in Round 1 of the EFL Cup. Cheltenham will be looking to avoid first time exit. Who will come out on top after 90 minutes?

After a productive pre-season, Wayne Rooney was hopeful going into Plymouth's opening Championship fixture against Sheffield Wednesday. Though they held firm for the first half-hour at Hillsborough, the Pilgrims were eventually gunned down 4-0 by one of their relegation rivals for the 2023-24 season.

Wednesday are expected to do better this campaign but Rooney will be concerned about the manner of the setback in Yorkshire. On a more positive note, Plymouth's next two matches are at Home Park, where they have won two and drawn one of their last three competitive outings.

As far as this competition is concerned, Plymouth has not made it through to the third round since the 2007-08 campaign—a fact Rooney will be desperate to change over the next few weeks.

Cooper; Mumba, Pleguezuelo, Szucs, Ogbeta; Randell, Wright; Houghton, Bundu, Issaka; Hardie

Cheltenham have been dispatched at the first opportunity in both of the last two campaigns but, as recently as 2020-21, made the fourth round. New boss Michael Flynn is hoping to guide the club to back-to-back promotions to the third tier of English football following relegation last term.

Cheltenham got off to a good start with a 3-2 win over Flynn's former club Newport County, coming from behind with a 90th-minute winner after having initially led by two goals. With the priority of next weekend's trip to Grimsby Town—thereby focusing more on that game than this one—Cheltenham will be keen to end a run of five consecutive defeats in this fixture against Plymouth in all competitions.

Evans; Laing, Bennett, Bakare; Jude-Boyd, Kinsella, Pett, Haynes; Archer; Miller, Taylor

Cheltenham may sense an opportunity against Plymouth's new-look side under Rooney and could provide a stern challenge on Wednesday. However, we believe the home side will ultimately do just enough to secure a narrow victory, possibly sealing the win in the closing stages.