• This match was an opening day fixture in 2022/23, both teams finished in the top four that season

• Plymouth are regular overperformers of their xG, they scored 11 more than expected last season and 28(!) more than expected in their last League One season. Can they replicate this without Ryan Hardie?

• Barnsley scored 16 set piece goals last season, one of the highest totals in League One, will this be a theme of the 2025/26 season as well?

The opening day of the season back in League One for Plymouth, and they will be hoping to replicate a winning start at home to Barnsley like the last time they were in this league.

🟢 Will Plymouth Continue their Extremes of Home and Away Points Differences?

I have mentioned a lot of the positives around Plymouth’s home form by dint of the fact that this match is in Devon, but if Plymouth are going to achieve their goal of bouncing back to the second tier at the first attempt, then surely they need to begin balancing out the extremes between their home and away form.

Last season, they won only 12 away points, compared to 34 at home. The previous Championship season saw a 16-to-35-point split, and even the League One title season saw a difference of 21 points between 40 away from home, and 61 at home.

Working out a way to be effective on their travels has to be a priority for Tom Cleverley.

🔴 Barnsley Attempt to Halt Their Stride

The 2020/21 season ended with Barnsley finishing 5th in the Championship, competing in the second tier play-offs for the first time since the 1990s.

However, every season since then has seen them finish in a lower and lower league position. They were relegated from the Championship the following season, then 4th place in League One became 6th place in 2023/24, and finally a drop outside the play-offs into 12th last term.

With most pundits predicting similar midtable mediocrity or worse this time around, it is up to Hourihane and the players to reverse their trajectory.

📊 Plymouth v Barnsley H2H

There is very little in the head-to-head record between these two clubs over the last few years.

They have met in League One in the 2022/23 season and the 2018/19 season. The results from which are that Barnsley have won twice, 3-0 on each occasion, once at Home Park and once at Oakwell. Plymouth won the last match at Home Park in July 2022, which was also an opening day fixture, 1-0 with a Finn Azaz goal.

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