Plymouth Argyle play host to Cheltenham Town on Tuesday night looking to record their sixth successive victory in League One.
While the home side currently occupy fourth position in the standings, Cheltenham are down in 12th spot having recently put together a two-match winning streak of their own.
Match preview
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When Ryan Lowe left for Preston North End at the back end of 2021, Plymouth fans had reason to be downbeat, but Steven Schumacher has worked wonders to keep the club competing for promotion to the Championship.
A total of 35 points have been accumulated from 18 matches, the fourth-best return in the division, and it has left the club in fourth position ahead of the run-in.
As it stands, Argyle trail leaders Rotherham United by nine points, but their game in hand and current form has ensured that the Millers have reason to be looking over their shoulder.
Since Plymouth's last defeat, which came against Rotherham on February 26, they have posted five victories in a row without conceding a goal, the latest success coming by a 4-0 scoreline against Accrington Stanley.
Ryan Hardie has scored in four of those fixtures, taking his tally for the campaign to 16 strikes from 33 appearances.
As far as Cheltenham are concerned, they are merely playing for pride with the club sitting 17 points adrift of the playoffs with just eight matches remaining.
Coincidentally, they sit the same number of points above the relegation zone, but Michael Duff can be more than satisfied with the club's first year back in this division.
That said, he will want their current form to continue, the Robins collecting nine points from a possible 12 with their only defeat coming against promotion-chasing MK Dons.
Cheltenham head into this contest on the back of successive 3-1 victories against Morecambe and AFC Wimbledon respectively, Callum Wright and Alfie May getting on the scoresheet on both occasions.
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Team News
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Despite suggesting that he was not overly pleased with Plymouth's performance against Accrington, Schumacher is unlikely to tinker with his team for Tuesday's game.
However, Schumacher talked up the impact of Niall Ennis from the substitutes' bench after that result, and the forward may potentially take the place of Jordan Garrick.
While Cheltenham prevailed at the weekend, they did so in contrasting style, relying on three late goals after Duff had previously made a triple change.
Aaron Ramsey provided an assist and George Lloyd got on the scoresheet, leaving the pair in contention to earn a recall to the starting lineup.
With Charlie Colkett also being on the pitch for the turnaround, the trio could take the places of Elliot Bonds, Liam Sercombe and Andy Williams.
Plymouth Argyle possible starting lineup:
Cooper; Wilson, Bolton, Gillesphey; Edwards, Mayor, Houghton, Camara, Grant; Garrick, Hardie
Cheltenham Town possible starting lineup:
Evans; Long, Raglan, Boyle; Blair, Wright, Ramsey, Colkett, Williams; Lloyd, May
We say: Plymouth Argyle 2-1 Cheltenham Town
With both teams enjoying strong periods of form, particularly the home side, this has the potential to be an entertaining fixture. However, we cannot back against Plymouth, who should have enough quality to see out this contest during the final stages.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Plymouth Argyle win with a probability of 60.98%. A draw had a probability of 21.5% and a win for Cheltenham Town had a probability of 17.56%.
The most likely scoreline for a Plymouth Argyle win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.8%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (10.55%) and 2-1 (9.93%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.17%), while for a Cheltenham Town win it was 0-1 (5.21%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with a 10.6% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Plymouth Argyle would win this match.
