Plymouth Argyle and AFC Wimbledon will do battle at Home Park on Wednesday with an EFL Trophy quarter-final place on the line.
The hosts scraped past Charlton Athletic in the second round to reach this stage, while the visitors beat Sutton United after topping their group.
Match preview
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Plymouth Argyle booked their place in the EFL Trophy knockout rounds with an almost perfect record in the group stage, firstly taking two points from a contest with Bristol Rovers as they prevailed in a penalty shooutout after a 1-1 draw.
Steven Schumacher's side would then seal top spot with victories in their other two outings, firstly beating Swindon Town 3-1 on their travels before Niall Ennis netted an injury-time winner in a 1-0 defeat of Crystal Palace Under-21s.
Such a record saw the Pilgrims cruise through to the second round, booking a battle with Charlton Athletic for a place in the last 16, and after going 1-0 down early on, Schumacher's men turned the game on its head as Sam Cosgrove, Ennis and Caleb Roberts got on the scoresheet, before holding on for an eventual 3-2 victory after Karoy Anderson pulled one back for their opponents in the dying minutes.
Although they have somewhat struggled for form in League One in recent weeks, briefly dropping off the summit of the table after an eye-catching start to the season, having gone five games without a victory, the Pilgrims do now head into Wednesday on the back of an important return to winning ways.
Goals from Ennis and Cosgrove sealed a 2-1 triumph over Morecambe on home turf to see Schumacher's men retake top spot in England's third tier, and they will now turn their attention to the cup with a chance to advance to the final eight of the EFL Trophy and keep their hopes of further silverware alive.
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They take on an AFC Wimbledon side who arrive hoping to cause a major upset with confidence from a vastly improved run of form in League Two recently.
The Dons began the EFL Trophy campaign in impressive fashion with 2-1 and 3-2 victories over Aston Villa Under-21s and Crawley Town respectively, before sealing top spot with a 1-1 draw away at Portsmouth thanks to Ayoub Assal's equaliser, with the following penalty shootout defeat not knocking them off the summit.
Johnnie Jackson's side would then meet Sutton United in the second round and advance with a 1-0 victory, as Kyle Hudlin's 17th-minute goal made the difference between the sides.
They now come into Wednesday's tough trip well rested following the postponement of the weekend's scheduled contest with Stevenage, with their last action coming earlier in December as the Dons beat Grimsby Town 1-0 and played out a goalless stalemate away at Swindon Town to take an unbeaten run to eight games in League Two, having won five of those and amassed 18 points as a result.
The impressive run has seen Jackson's men climb to 12th spot in England's fourth tier after a poor start to the season, and they will now aim to advance further and book a quarter-final spot in the EFL Trophy with what would be a surprise win in Devon.
Team News
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Plymouth Argyle fielded a strong starting XI for their second-round tie against Charlton Athletic, and we should see a similar side again on Wednesday, with Niall Ennis hoping to continue his scoring form having found the net in each of the last two EFL Trophy games while hitting his seventh League One goal of the season last time out.
While Ryan Hardie leads the squad's scoring charts, Sam Cosgrove and Caleb Roberts also got on the scoresheet in the beating of Charlton and should again be given starting spots with Cosgrove having also taken his tally to seven goals for the season in all competitions last time out.
With plenty of competition all over the pitch, defender James Wilson should come into the back three after only appearing off the bench against Morecambe, as should Jordan Houghton in the engine room after Matt Butcher and Adam Randell were preferred at the weekend.
Having enjoyed a rest with the weekend's fixture called off, AFC Wimbledon could travel to Plymouth with an unchanged starting XI, given their impressive run of form.
Josh Davison will continue to lead the line, having netted seven goals so far this season, while winger Ayoub Assal has been their star man going forward with nine goals and three assists to his name in all competitions.
Paris Maghoma and Alex Woodyard should again partner up at the base of midfield, while Ryley Towler and Paul Kalambayi will continue their centre-back pairing having kept consecutive clean sheets.
Plymouth Argyle possible starting lineup:
Cooper; Craske, Wilson, Lonwijk; Mumba, Houghton, Butcher, Edwards; Ennis, Cosgrove, Roberts
AFC Wimbledon possible starting lineup:
Tzanev; Biler, Kalambayi, Towler, Currie; Maghoma, Woodyard; Chislett, Pell, Assal; Davison
We say: Plymouth Argyle 2-1 AFC Wimbledon
AFC Wimbledon will travel to Home Park with plenty of confidence and optimism that they can cause an upset, but we see the Pilgrims being too strong and back them to advance to the quarter-finals.
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Top tip
Sam Varley
