PREVIEW: Plymouth Argyle vs Sunderland - Can The Black Cats make it five in a row?

All you need to know ahead of Sunderland's trip down to Devon

Sunderland will be hoping to pick up where they left off before the international break and extend their winning run to five, as they travel down to Home Park. The lads ended August in style with an emphatic 3-1 victory over their old League One rivals Portsmouth. Mayenda and Mundle caused the Portsmouth back-line plenty of problems and summer-signing Alan Browne got on the score sheet for the first time in red and white (even though they were wearing the white away kit).

The win saw them go two points clear of West Bromwich Albion at the top of the table and with Watford falling to defeat at Sheffield United, Sunderland are now the only side in the division with a perfect record.

This weekend, Sunderland will be head down to Devon to take on Plymouth Argyle, who are yet to win this season. The Black Cats will be hoping that they can better their 2-0 defeat they suffered at Home Park last November.

Sunderland Team News

Sunderland will still be without Aji Alese, who picked up an ankle injury in their 1-0 win over Burnley.

Jenson Seelt is still out with injury, the 21-year-old last featured for Sunderland back in March.

There were no fresh injuries worries to come from those on international duty, meaning Regis Le Bris will have the same group of players to pick from as he did for the trip to Fratton Park.

The Opposition

After their dramatic final day survival last season, Plymouth Argyle will be starting their second consecutive Championship campaign for the first time since 2009. The Greens put on an impressive display the last time Sunderland came to Home Park winning 2-0 with goals from Morgan Whittaker and Finn Azaz.

Plymouth have had a tough start to the new season, two draws and two defeats so far for the Greens sees them sitting in 22nd. After an opening day pasting at Sheffield Wednesday, performances have picked up. A 1-1 draw with Hull at home, in which they took the lead, they then went on to draw 1-1 again at Queens Park Rangers, a valiant effort as they played most of the game with 10-men and played the final few minutes with nine. A 1-0 defeat to Stoke City at home would have been a bitter pill to swallow in what was a very even contest.

The Gaffer

Plymouth Argyle's new Head coach needs no introduction, former England captain and Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney was appointed as the new Plymouth Head coach back in June and the appointment initially left supporters up and down the country scratching their heads.

Rooney's playing career speaks for itself given how successful he was and he is looking to enjoy some similar successes in management as well. Rooney started his managerial career on the 14th November 2020 when he was appointed as interim head coach at Derby County along side, Liam Rosenior, Shay Given and Justin Walker, before being appointed as the permanent Head coach 12 days later.

He helped them to survival that season and almost did the following season, despite the club's 21 point deduction, but survival was just out of reach. Rooney left the role on the 31st of June 2022. A month later, he was appointed as the new Head coach of MLS side DC United.

Rooney endured a tough spell out in the US. He took charge of DC's final 13 games of the 2022 MLS season, where DC only won twice, in what had been a very tough season for the club. DC ended that season bottom in their conference in 14th place and 28th overall. The following season, clear improvements had been made as they finished 12th in their conference and only three points off the play-offs. Rooney departed the club in October 2023 by mutual consent and joined Birmingham four days later. His spell at Birmingham lasted 15 matches, his side never really got going and he was sacked on the 2nd of January 2024.

The Squad

Plymouth brought in 9 players over the course of the summer window. Darko Gyabi made his return to the club, after a groin injury cut his loan spell short last season, Michael Obafemi joined on loan from Burnley, a player who is a proven goal scorer at this level and has four Premier League goals to his name and Rami Al Hajj joined from Danish side Odense on deadline day.

Probably the most important bit of business for Plymouth over the summer was retaining the services of Morgan Whittaker, they rejected several bids from several clubs as well as a late push Burnley who were keen on signing the 23-year-old. The clubs most notable departure was Michael Cooper, the Plymouth academy product departed for Sheffield United.

Bali Mumba (pictured above) will be making his 100th appearance for Plymouth on Saturday, providing he plays. It feels very fitting that he will do so against the club where it all started for him.

Previous Meeting

February was the last time the two sides met and Sunderland came from behind to win 3-1 at The Stadium of Light.

Plymouth Argyle opened the scoring, Morgan Whittaker played a perfectly weighted through-ball to Ryan Hardie who rounded Anthony Patterson and chipped the ball into the net. Pierre Ekwah levelled the game seven minutes into the second half, with a thunderous effort into the bottom corner of Conor Hazard's net.

Seven minutes later, Jack Clarke wriggled his way in from the left beating the Plymouth defence and keeper Hazard as Clarke fired it in off the post. Jobe Bellingham was substituted on in the 65th minute and scored two minutes later. A bit of skill saw him beat his man before firing a fierce effort in off the post, sealing the victory for Sunderland.

Referee

John Brooks will be the referee as Sunderland take on Plymouth Argyle.

Brooks has refereed Sunderland three times before, they have won two of those three.

Plymouth Argyle vs Sunderland Stat Pack

As per the EFL website:

Plymouth Argyle are looking for consecutive home league wins over Sunderland for the first time since a run of three between 1990 and 2004.

Sunderland have won six of their last nine league matches against Plymouth (D1 L2), including a 3-1 victory in the most recent meeting in February.

Only Cardiff City (1) have scored fewer goals in the Championship this season than Plymouth (2). The Pilgrims have also accumulated the lowest expected goal total of any side (1.8).

Sunderland have given 930 minutes to teenagers in the Championship in 2024-25, almost twice as many as any other side (Luton, 474). They are also one of two teams yet to give a single minute to a player aged 30 or older, along with Hull.

Predicted Line-up

4-3-3: Patterson, Hume, O'Nien, Ballard, Cirkin, Neil, Rigg, Jobe, Roberts, Mayenda, Mundle