Plymouth Argyle vs Southampton betting tips: Saint's prolific attack and shaky defence means goals

Plymouth's fearless approach and tenacity in the press should lead to an entertaining game against a Southampton side full of goals and errors in equal measure.

Championship, Saturday, August 19, Kick-off 12.30pm, live on Sky Sports Football

Plymouth Argyle 2-2 Southampton

Michael Cooper, Brendan Galloway, Macaulay Gillesphey and Kaine Kesley-Hayden could miss out for the hosts who are expected to name an unchanged lineup.

Jordan Houghton will continue in midfield alongside Adam Randell with the tricky trio of Bali Mumba, Morgan Whittaker and Ryan Hardie in attack.

Southampton are set to beat without Kamaldeen Sulemana again while Juan Larios is also absent. There's a question mark over Will Smallbone which would be a major blow.

Adam Armstrong, Che Adams, Carlos Alcaraz, Samuel Edozie and Nathan Tella have all looked like players with too much quality for this level.

Plymouth Argyle have made a positive start to life in the Championship, beating Huddersfield Town 3-1 at home before picking up a point away to Watford last weekend.

The Pilgrims will face their toughest test when hosting Southampton at Home Park this weekend, but winning is a habit and they've been beaten just twice in 31 home matches.

Russell Martin's Saints have lived up to expectations already, dominating possession of the ball and providing good entertainment value.

They were largely without threat despite beating Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 in the first game of the season and lacked balance when drawing 4-4 with Norwich City the following week.

The hosts have lived up to their mean defensive billing thus far, conceding one goal in two Championship matches and beating Leyton Orient 2-0 in the League Cup.

Despite that, Ryan Lowe's side has actually given up a number of high-quality chances, leading to an xG against value of four goals.

The visitors have the quality to exploit those chances better with Adam Armstrong (3) and Che Adams (2) netting five times between them in the opening weeks of the season.

Argyle's key attackers have been heavily involved with Ben Waine (2), Morgan Whittaker, Ryan Hardie and the dancing feet of Bali Mumba finding the back of the net.

The Saints have conceded seven times despite dominating 71.5% of possession in the past seven days and the hosts look to have the ability to exploit their deficiencies.

Southampton were robbed time and time again in the middle of the park, most notably when McLean was dispossessed prior to Norwich's third goal from a corner.

Plymouth's style and ability will allow them to press high and turn the ball over and even Gillingham found it very easy to pass their way through Martin's press.

Despite their shortcomings, this looks like a team full of goals and the trio of Nathan Tella, Samuel Edozie and Adam Armstrong - ably assisted by Che Adams off the bench - will always create chances.

This is a big step up for the hosts but we expect a fearless approach and an end-to-end encounter to unfold at times, so while it's hard to pick a winner, goals look a certainty.