Plymouth Argyle vs Liverpool

Home Park is the venue as Plymouth Argyle and Liverpool go head-to-head in a ‘David vs Goliath’ FA Cup tie.

Despite being firmly embroiled in the Championship relegation scrap, Plymouth stunned Premier League side Brentford in the previous FA Cup round 1-0 to set up this tie. Nailed to the foot of the table, Miron Muslic’s men are seemingly out of their depth here, but confidence stems from a 2-1 home triumph against West Brom last weekend, which saw them return to the win column in league action for the first time since early November. That was Argyle’s first home victory in eight matches (D4, L3), yet it’s now been over three months since they last registered a clean sheet at Home Park. That’s potentially a massive problem for the Pilgrims ahead of their first meeting with Liverpool since a 1-0 defeat in this competition in January 2017.

Though Liverpool need a rematch to progress, courtesy of a 1-0 away win, the traveling fans can expect a more straightforward success this time, with the Reds winning their last four domestic fixtures via multi-goal margins, including a 4-0 triumph against Tottenham to book a place in the League Cup final. Seeking their first FA Cup title since 2021/22, Arne Slot’s charges commenced this season’s competition with a 4-0 home victory against lower-league Accrington. However, they can’t take this match-up for granted, especially after failing to win three of their last five competitive games on the road (D1, L2). Perhaps surprisingly, four of those five matches featured under 2.5 goals, highlighting the potential for a low-scoring contest.