Preview:Burton Albion vs Plymouth Argyle - prediction, team news, lineups

Burton Albion will attempt to end their six-game winless league run when they welcome Plymouth Argyle to the Pirelli Stadium on Saturday.

The Brewers are languishing at the foot of the League One table, while the Pilgrims are four points better off in 17th position.

Match preview

After finishing just a point clear of the bottom four last term, Burton are already staring at the prospect of another relegation battle following their poor start to the 2025-26 season.

The Brewers have collected just two points from six league matches since they beat Mansfield Town on the opening day of the campaign.

Gary Bowyer’s side at least managed to end a run of three consecutive league defeats with a goalless draw in their recent away clash with Huddersfield Town.

However, the Burton boss will be concerned by the fact that his team have failed to score in four of their seven matches in League One.

In fact, the Brewers have had three straight home league matches without troubling the scorers, which may temper hopes of claiming maximum points on Saturday.

They have also failed to win any of their previous seven games against Plymouth since they pulled off a 3-2 away win in October 2018 (W3, D4).

After suffering relegation last term, Plymouth experienced a difficult start to life in League One, losing their opening four league games under Tom Cleverley.

However, they have managed to spark an upturn in fortunes with three wins in five league games, including back-to-back victories over Stockport County and Luton Town earlier this month.

Unfortunately for the Pilgrims, they were unable to make it three league wins on the bounce as they fell to a narrow 1-0 defeat in last Saturday's home clash with Peterborough United.

The Pilgrims quickly returned to winning ways in Tuesday's EFL Trophy clash against Tottenham Hotspur Under-21s, easing to a dominant 6-2 victory to tighten their grip on top spot in Group 10.

Plymouth will take confidence from that free-scoring display, but their current focus will be on shoring up their backline, having shipped 19 goals in nine league games to leave them with the worst defensive record in the division.

They will also head into the weekend with aspirations of claiming their first-ever away win over Burton after failing in their previous eight attempts (D5, L3).

Burton Albion League One form:

L D L L L D

Burton Albion form (all competitions):

L L L W L D

Plymouth Argyle League One form:

L W L W W L

Plymouth Argyle form (all competitions):

L W W W L W

Team News

The Brewers remain without the services of Terence Vancooten and James Jones due to their respective injury issues.

Midfielder Kegs Chauke and forward Julian Larsson will have to be assessed after the pair sat out the goalless draw with Huddersfield.

Fabio Tavares could come into Bowyer's thinking if the Burton boss opts to alter his frontline for Saturday's home fixture.

As for the visitors, Cleverley is unable to call upon the injured quartet of Kornel Szucs, Julio Pleguezuelo, Xavier Amaechi and Caleb Watts.

Jack Mackenzie, who is yet to make his Plymouth debut, has suffered a setback in his injury recovery, with the summer addition set to miss four to six weeks with shin splints.

Plymouth skipper Joe Edwards will serve the second match of a three-game ban following his red card against Luton Town earlier this month.

Burton Albion possible starting lineup:

Collins; Godwin-Malife, Sibbick, Hartridge; Lofthouse, Chauke, Evans, Webster, Revan; Beesley, Tavares

Plymouth Argyle possible starting lineup:

Ashby-Hammond; Ross, Mitchell, Wiredu; Sorinola, Boateng, Ibrahim, Galloway; Dale, Mumba; Tolaj

We say: Burton Albion 0-2 Plymouth Argyle

Plymouth have never won at the Pirelli Stadium, but we think that the upcoming fixture represents the perfect chance to end their winless away run against Burton, with the hosts struggling at the bottom of the League One table.

Having won four of their last five competitive games, we think that the Pilgrims will do enough to claim a relatively comfortable victory in Saturday's contest.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.