After a humiliating afternoon on the South Coast on the weekend, Coventry City will be searching for some festive cheer as Plymouth Argyle visit for a Championship clash on Boxing Day.
The Sky Blues were smashed 4-1 at the home of relegation-threatened Portsmouth last time out, whilst the Pilgrims played out a pulsating six-goal thriller with Middlesbrough in Devon.
Match preview
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Following a pair of glamorous jobs in the Premier League at Stamford Bridge and Goodison Park, Frank Lampard now finds himself at the helm of an underperforming Coventry side, who are looking to escape their worries of relegation in order to challenge for promotion to the top flight once more.
The former England great has endured a mixed start to his tenure in the East Midlands, winning two, drawing one and losing two of his opening five league battles, with one of those defeats coming at the hands of newly-promoted Portsmouth at a raucous Fratton Park last Saturday.
It looked as if the Sky Blues were heading towards successive wins in the Championship when summer arrival Norman Bassette opened the scoring inside four minutes on the South Coast, but a complete capitulation from the visitors was next on the agenda, with Pompey's Callum Lang firing four goals past Bradley Collins.
Still reeling from their joint-heaviest loss of the 2024-25 campaign to date, Coventry are currently occupying 17th spot in the Championship standings ahead of Boxing Day's action, six points above the drop zone and a highly-concerning 11 points behind the playoffs.
Lampard's troops will need to drastically improve on their return of 14 points from 10 contests at home if they wish to mount an unlikely top-six push during the second half of the season, although the Sky Blues have fared well in the East Midlands since the departure of Mark Robins, earning a combined four points from battles with Cardiff City and Hull City.
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After a disastrous spell in charge of Birmingham City last season, Wayne Rooney has managed to bumble his way through to the festive schedule at the helm of Plymouth, who are fully prepared for another survival scrap following their avoidance of relegation by a single point during 2023-24.
The Pilgrims are highly reliant on grinding out points at their Devonshire base and such was the case on Saturday afternoon, when strikes from Lewis Gibson, Darko Gyabi and Mustapha Bundu were enough for a share of the spoils with Michael Carrick's promotion-chasing Middlesbrough.
In the midst of a seven-game winless streak, Plymouth are rooted to the very bottom of the Championship table as 2024 hurtles towards its conclusion, with Thursday's visitors to The Coventry Building Society Arena one point behind Ruben Selles's Hull City in the relative comfort of 21st.
Staying true to their self-deprecating chant, the mighty Argyle have been woeful on the road so far in the 2024-25 campaign, with Rooney's men failing to win any of their 11 second-tier away matches, collecting just two points and conceding an eye-watering 29 goals along the way.
Plymouth's awful run away from Home Park stretches back into the previous campaign, with Thursday's visitors last enjoying an away victory on April 5, when Pilgrims outfit under the interim stewardship of Neil Dewsnip recorded a 1-0 success at League One-bound Rotherham United.
Team News
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Failing to feature since early October because of a knee injury, Ben Wilson could be in contention for Boxing Day, especially considering Coventry's goalkeeping struggles in recent times.
The Sky Blues are desperately missing the services of leading marksman Haji Wright, who is expected back in the New Year from a leg issue.
Lampard is set to make a number of alterations following Saturday's embarrassment at Portsmouth, meaning that Jamie Allen could be given the opportunity to impress in the engine room alongside Ben Sheaf.
Plymouth have seen their attacking options lessened significantly in recent days, with both Ryan Hardie and Michael Obafemi suffering injuries during the Middlesbrough draw.
Argyle's only fit striker, Archie Gray is almost certain to start at The CBS Arena, with the veteran contracted to the club until January 3.
The visitors are without a number of their first-team stars, including summer signing Ibrahim Cissoko and last season's top goalscorer Morgan Whittaker.
Coventry City possible starting lineup:
Collins; Van Ewijk, Latibeaudiere, Kitching, Bidwell; Allen, Sheaf, Sakamoto, Rudoni, Mason-Clark; Bassette
Plymouth Argyle possible starting lineup:
Grimshaw; Mumba, Szucs, Gibson, Galloway; Randell, Gyabi, Bundu, Al Hajj, Issaka; Gray
We say: Coventry City 2-1 Plymouth Argyle
Although their Portsmouth performance highlighted major areas of weakness, Coventry will seriously fancy their chances of beating a Plymouth side who are terrible on their Championship travels.
The Green Army will be hoping for a Christmas miracle in the form of an away victory on Boxing Day, although we do not believe that their prayers will be answered.
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Carter White
