Plymouth Argyle

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Plymouth Argyle forward Muhamed Tijani has suffered another injury setback.

The 24-year-old Nigerian will miss the FA Cup trip to Premier League side Manchester City and is likely to be out for the next few weeks after injuring his hamstring.

It limits the Pilgrims' attacking options even further with Ryan Hardie, who scored the winning goal against Liverpool in the last round of the FA Cup, also out with a back injury.

Tijani, who ed on loan from Slavia Prague last summer, has made just eight appearances in all competitions and has not started a game since the opening day of the season.

He made just one appearance in four months after suffering groin and hamstring injuries before returning a month ago.

Tijani scored his first goal for the club in the 1-1 draw with Cardiff City last weekend.

Image source, Rex Features

Plymouth Argyle full-back Matthew Sorinola says the team is putting their looming FA Cup glamour trip to Manchester City to the back of their minds to focus on their survival bid.

Miron Muslic's Plymouth earned the huge, and deserved, reward of an away tie against Pep Guardiola's side after stunning current Premier League leaders Liverpool in round four earlier this month.

Second-bottom Plymouth have had to quickly switch their attention back to trying to stay in the Championship after overcoming Arne Slot's side and have played three league matches already since their famous FA Cup upset.

They have one more crucial Championship match to go - against fellow strugglers, Cardiff City, at Home Park tomorrow (12:30 GMT) - before they can fully focus on facing star-studded City next Saturday.

"They're the games [Man City away] everyone gets excited for," Sorinola told BBC Radio Devon.

"Once we get these games out the way, the league games, then we can really focus our attention to that but we know the position we're in in the league, so our main focus is to climb the table and get higher.

"Luton [on Wednesday] was a huge game as well. We picked up a point [from a 1-1 draw] after going behind so that was a good result.

"Cardiff is important as well. A team in and around us so hopefully we can pick up three points."

Image source, Rex Features

Plymouth Argyle head coach Miron Muslic has confirmed striker Ryan Hardie will miss Saturday's visit of Cardiff City and has been in London to see a specialist.

In-form Hardie was forced off with a back injury during the first half of last weekend's 2-0 defeat at Blackburn Rovers.

The problem also forced him to sit out Wednesday night's trip to Luton Town which saw the two sides at the foot of the Championship table play out a 1-1 draw.

Muslic told BBC Radio Devon: "He [Hardie] will be out also for the game tomorrow. He was today in London with our head of the medical department Gareth [Law] to see a specialist but I can only confirm he will be out tomorrow."

Muslic, who remains uncertain exactly how long Hardie will be out for, with games including an FA Cup trip to Manchester City on the horizon, wants his players to maintain their impressive recent home form when they take on Cardiff on Saturday (12:30 GMT).

Plymouth have won each of their last three games at Home Park and Muslic said: "It's up to us to make it really, really difficult for them.

"We try to make Home Park a fortress again. We show this against West Brom, we show this against Liverpool and also against Millwall.

"It was just hard to play and this should be always the same, if you come to Plymouth, if you come to Home Park. That's the extra motivation, the extra boost we have and exactly the same, we want to create tomorrow."

Following Plymouth's draw at rock-bottom Luton, the clash with Cardiff is another relegation 'six-pointer' for Muslic's men.

The Welsh side are just three points above Plymouth and two places outside the relegation zone in 20th.

Plymouth Argyle welcome Cardiff City to Home Park on Saturday lunchtime (12:30 GMT) for an important clash between two sides battling relegation.

The Pilgrims are one point adrift of safety in 23rd, having played one game more than the Bluebirds, who are 20th and three points above the drop zone.

Cardiff are without a win in their past three (D2 L1), having previously gone on a seven-game unbeaten run (W3 D4).

• Plymouth Argyle have lost just three of their past 24 home league games against Cardiff City (W7 D14), winning this exact fixture 3-1 last season.

• After winning the reverse fixture 5-0 in October, Cardiff City will be looking to complete a first league double over Plymouth Argyle since the 1948-49 season.

• Plymouth have won each of their past three home games in all competitions, all coming in February. The Pilgrims past enjoyed a longer home winning run between April and August 2023 (5), while they last had more home wins in a single month in October 2022 (5).

• Cardiff have shipped 34 goals in 16 away league games in 2024-25, their worst average per game (2.13) since the 1985-86 campaign (54 in 23 games, 2.35).

• Plymouth's Ryan Hardie has scored a brace in each of his past two home league games, netting as many goals (4) as he had in his previous 24 combined at Home Park. He's the first Pilgrims player to score 2+ goals in consecutive home league appearances since Ruben Lameiras in January 2019 in League One.

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Plymouth manager Miron Muslic spoke to BBC Radio Devon following the 1-1 draw against Luton Town on Wednesday.

He said: "It was a very vertical and direct game, the atmosphere was amazing, it felt like England and the Championship.

"Luton were very physical, we had to defend about a thousand long balls. We did it well defensively; we didn't allow them many chances in open play, it was mainly the set-pieces and deep free-kicks.

"We conceded the goal through miscommunication. Bouncing back is super difficult but it is our new mentality. We did it against Sunderland, West Bromwich Albion and also tonight; that is why I'm OK and happy with the point.

"It will be massive if we perform well against Cardiff. Home Park, fortress, that is the plan."

There is a Championship basement battle on Wednesday (19:45 GMT) as bottom side Luton Town host next-to-bottom Plymouth Argyle.

The Hatters have yet to win under new boss Matt Bloomfield, sinking to the foot of the table, three points adrift of safety.

Meanwhile, Argyle's new boss Miron Muslic has guided them off the bottom after taking seven points from their past four league games (W2 D1 L1).

• Luton Town have won only one of their last seven home Football League games against Plymouth Argyle (D3 L3), though it came in the most recent of those in League One in November 2018, winning 5-1 with James Collins scoring a hat-trick.

• After beating Luton 3-1 in September, Plymouth could do the league double over the Hatters for the first time since 2006-07 in the Championship under Ian Holloway.

• Luton have lost each of their last four midweek (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) games in the Championship, but haven't lost five successive midweek matches in the Football League since a run of eight from August 1990 to August 1991.

• Plymouth are winless in their last nine midweek (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) away league outings (D2 L7), losing all five such fixtures since the start of 2024.

• Plymouth have lost each of their last three Championship games against sides relegated from last season's Premier League. However, their last win in that regard was the reverse fixture against Luton in September.