Plymouth Argyle will host Leeds United in a fourth-round replay in the FA Cup. The winner of the midweek matchup will go to the Premier League to face either Chelsea or Aston Villa in a fifth-round matchup.
Preview (Plymouth Argyle vs. Leeds United)
Leeds winger Jaydon Anthony scored a goal at Elland Road just past the half-hour mark on January 27. He cut inside from the left and sidestepped pointless Plymouth tackles. He curled home with style before paying a moving homage to his late mother. With 17 minutes of normal time remaining, however, Ian Foster’s team still had one more trick up their sleeves. Mustapha Bundu found Adam Randell’s run with a deft pass. The midfielder finished with composure to dampen the emotions of the Elland Road supporters.
Foster’s team left with a rematch scheduled for February and a great chance to advance to the FA Cup’s fifth round. They had been eliminated in the fourth round three times since then. They had also survived a few more close calls in their penalty area. Before an embarrassing first-round loss to Grimsby Town last year, Plymouth had two such exits in the 2020–21 and 2021–22 seasons, to Sheffield United and Chelsea, respectively. However, under Foster, Plymouth has been gathering momentum, and they made it back-to-back Championship victories over the weekend while visiting Swansea City.
Plymouth has not lost on their home field since they unexpectedly lost 3-1 to Swansea on October 7. The Whites’ inability to defeat Foster’s team, though, is the only black mark on their 2024 record thus far. The visitors have won all six of their games since the start of the season. It was including this Saturday’s hard Championship matchup with Bristol City. Daniel Farke’s team only had a single Wilfried Gnonto goal to secure their fifth straight Championship victory. They matched Plymouth’s 1-0 victory on the road. Despite having played one extra game, the third-place Whites managed to close the gap on second-place Southampton to just one point.
Team News
Plymouth Argyle signed teenage left-back Lino Sousa from Aston Villa, who signed him after poaching him from Arsenal and loaned him to Home Park after they triumphantly left Elland Road. However, the 19-year-old is unavailable for Tuesday’s match because he was not registered to Plymouth for the first leg. Due to a match against his parent club, another January recruit Darko Gyabi will also be missing again. Alfie Devine, who played for Tottenham Hotspur, is cup-tied after having played for Port Vale previously. On Tuesday, goal scorer Randell and Callum Wright should replace the ineligible pair, although Foster and company welcome Leeds to their headquarters without any doubts about their fitness.
On the other hand, Leeds will still need to accommodate three defensive injury victims for the midweek replay: Karl Darlow (finger), Pascal Struijk (groin), and Stuart Dallas (hip) are all now in the infirmary. Connor Roberts, a Burnley loanee, has come in as a backup, although he too cannot participate in the replay for the same reason as Sousa. Sam Byram and Jamie Shackleton, on the other hand, are available to give the side a boost at full-back.
Plymouth Argyle 2-2 Leeds United
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