This weekend, there’s a massive game down in Devon as Plymouth Argyle make the 47 mile trip up the A38 to face Exeter City.
The 88th Devon derby will be played at St James’ Park, and Plymouth currently lead the head-to-head record by 34 wins to 28, with 25 draws.
However, Argyle will be hoping they can get revenge on their bitter rivals, as the Grecians have won the last two games between the sides 2-1.
This fixture wasn’t in the calendar between 2002 and 2010, until both sides met in League One, and since then it’s Exeter who have the better record, winning seven times to Plymouth’s five.
It’s the biggest game of the season for both clubs, and the one that their fans want to win the most.
Who will have the upper hand on Saturday? Here, FLW’s Ryan Evans takes a look at THREE reasons why Plymouth will be victorious in the derby…
Plymouth on form
The Pilgrims got off to a shaky start in Sky Bet League Two this season, losing both their first two games to Luton and Carlisle respectively.
Since then, however, Argyle have won six on the bounce in all competitions to take the summit of the table.
Exeter, on the other hand, are in 21st place and have two wins and five defeats from their opening seven league encounters.
Wins over Accrington and Colchester haven’t done much to help them get away from the lingering relegation zone, just two points clear at this early stage.
Whilst the league table cannot be taken too seriously at this point in the season, it is clear to see who has made the better start and which team is on form going into this game.
Argyle have only conceded one goal since the 16th August, whilst City have conceded six in that time.
This form advantage and the fact that the Plymouth players are playing with so much confident is just one reason why I expect them to be able to make it seven unbeaten this Saturday.
Graham Carey
The team’s talisman and the reigning League Two player of the season, Graham Carey has played some great football already this term and is amongst the goals once again.
After netting 11 in the league and the same number of assists during the 2015-16 campaign, the Irishman has managed to get on the scoresheet three times already, setting up one more.
He’s been played out wide in a change of tactics by manager Derek Adams, and uses his pace and skill to terrorise the full-back from minute one.
If Carey performs as well as he is capable of, there aren’t many teams in third tier let alone the fourth that are able to cope with him.
Exeter’s poor home record, and Plymouth’s great away form
When you delve into the stats, one thing stands out like a sore thumb. Exeter have lost three out of the three games they’ve played at St James’ this season, going down 2-1 to Hartlepool, 1-0 to Crawley and 1-0 to Portsmouth.
Plymouth, however, are strong on the road and have only lost 1-0 to Carlisle this season, back in the second week of the campaign. Even last season, Argyle won 12 of the 23 trips they made in the regular campaign, losing just five, an incredibly strong record.
Exeter last season were also stronger on the road, and ended up winning just six out of 23 games in the Devon capital. Paul Tisdale will be hoping that he can improve that record in this campaign, because it will likely prove costly to drop so many points at home.
However, in these games sometimes form counts for nothing and the score line will start at 0-0 at 1pm on Saturday.
Plymouth fans, what do you think? Are you confident of beating this Exeter side when you make the trip on Saturday? Let us know your opinions below!