Plymouth Argyle (H): Preview

So an FA Cup tie at Elland Road is finally happening today after Leeds United set a record of 13 away ties drawn in a row. Plymouth Argyle are making the long trip from the South Coast and a draw wouldn’t totally surprise me, with Leeds away to Plymouth in the league on Saturday 17th February. Fifth round games now take place in midweek, at the end of February, and a quirk of Cup matches often comes up when teams play each in a cup match within a week or so of a league match. That would be the only reason to think a draw is a possibility because, other than that, I can only see a win today for Leeds.

Daniel Farke made it clear that the FA Cup is very important to him. He is paying a lot of respect to Plymouth and Leeds will be all out to win this and I am very confident they will. Farke will be forced into changes, both Archie Gray and Dan James are injured, and one or two players might be rested. On the other hand he might play the strongest team awhalable and bring on plenty of subs when the game is won; he wants to win this game badly. Peace has been made with Charlie Cresswell and he should be rewarded with a place on the bench today. He wants to stay and fight for his place, much to everyone’s relief. As for incomings, it seemed inconceivable that they would allow Ayling and Spence to leave and not replace at least one of them but Farke seems at ease about it and realistic that it will be a tough job finding someone good enough to start games and also happy to join when he will not be first choice and have to sit on the bench.

The FA Cup, spread over 5 days, is a bit much, but it is the plan to bring back the shine to the world’s oldest cup competition. Games on terrestrial TV, over a very long weekend, will  get the taste buds tingling and the mouths watering for armchair fans up and down the country and last night you could see how important it was to Man Citteh players and fans alike to win at Spurs. The usual 36,000 plus cowd at Elland Road had 2,000 missing on Wednesday night for the Norwich match; there were rows of empty seats at the top of the Family Stand, but today will see a capacity crowd. It will be nice to be able to relax and not worry about dropping points in the mad scramble for 2nd place. I am not up for t’ cup…not yet anyway but I expect a comfortable win and another home draw which will have me excited at the prospect of the quarter finals after that.

It really would be LeedsThat to have to play the playoff final the day after the Cup Final and that is already a possibility…both games are scheduled for that weekend and it will definitely not be altered being the two biggest matches in the domestic calendar. Mad though it seems it would be incredible and I would love that to happen. It would be LeedsThat to lose both games but worth the sacrifice of having to play another season in the Championship.

By David Dean