Plymouth Argyle

Image source, Rex Features

Plymouth Argyle's highly-rated forward Morgan Whittaker will miss the rest of the year after a foot injury.

Last season's top scorer limped off in the second half of last month's 2-2 draw with Luton Town.

The 23-year-old was named in last season's Championship team of the season and was the subject of a bid from Italian giants Lazio last January.

He is the latest Argyle player to be ruled out until 2025, joining the likes of Muhamed Tijani, Ibrahim Cissoko and Joe Edwards on the sidelines.

However, Argyle boss Wayne Rooney has been boosted by news that Northern Ireland goalkeeper Conor Hazard is available after recovering from an ankle injury that had kept him out since early September, while defender Brendan Galloway could also return.

"The important thing come January is we get those players back fit; really, that'll be like new signings in my opinion because they're key players," Rooney said.

"Then on top of that, if we can bring players in, we will do."

Image source, Getty Images

Chris Sutton says he has "a lot of sympathy" for Plymouth Argyle boss Wayne Rooney after the Pilgrims recent poor results.

Argyle have conceded 10 goals in their last two matches - a 6-1 thrashing at Norwich City last Tuesday and a 4-0 defeat at Bristol City on Saturday.

It led to the former England captain describing last week as the "hardest" in his managerial career and feeling "embarrassed" when applauding the travelling Argyle fans at Ashton Gate.

The results have left Rooney's injury-hit side one place and two points above the relegation places. They have won just four of their 18 Championship matches since Rooney took over in May.

"Rooney didn't have to do it and I actually have a lot of sympathy for him and the criticism which he's getting," former Aston Villa and Celtic striker Sutton told BBC Radio 5 Live's Monday Night Club.

"I know he's had a bad week, a desperately bad week - walloped six at Norwich and four at Bristol City - but the expectation for Plymouth I think, I maybe wrong, is staying in the Championship would be a pretty big deal."

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It is one of the most eagerly anticipated dates in the football calendar as Premier League and Championship clubs join the FA Cup action from round three.

The draw will take place on Monday, 2 December from 19:00 GMT and can be watched live on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer.

Image source, Rex Features

Plymouth Argyle manager Wayne Rooney says the club's current poor form means it is proving difficult for him to pick attacker Rami Al Hajj.

The 23-year-old former Sweden under-21 player, who joined from Danish side Odense for an undisclosed fee on a three-year deal in August, has started just one game in November.

He started five times in the previous two months and got his only goal in the 3-1 win over Luton Town on 27 September, when he opened the scoring after eight minutes.

But with Argyle struggling - they were crushed 6-1 by Norwich City on Tuesday night and sit just two points above the relegation places - Rooney says Al Hajj may have to wait for his chance.

"I think Rami's more of a flair player, and early on in the season when we were playing really good football, I think that has dropped a little bit of late," Rooney said.

"Rami's a player who needs to be in a team that plays football, and at the minute when we're going through this period, I think we need a player in there who has a more natural defensive side to them and a more natural fight in them if you like.

"Players who know the league and know what the demands are of this league, and for Rami it's taking a little bit of time for him to adjust.

"But we'll keep working on that and hopefully get him right to have an effect on us throughout the season."

Image source, BBC Sport

Norwich are now without a win in their past seven games following a 2-2 draw at West Bromwich Albion at the weekend and have slipped to 13th in the Championship table.

On Tuesday evening, they welcome a Plymouth side who produced more late heroics to salvage a point in a 2-2 draw of their own against Watford at Home Park on Friday night.

• Norwich have won four of their past five league games against Plymouth, though their other game was a 6-2 defeat in September 2023.

• Plymouth Argyle have lost 15 of their past 20 away league matches against Norwich City (W2 D3), losing each of the past three.

• Norwich lost their past home league game against Bristol City (0-2) and could lose successive such games for the first time since November 2023.

• Plymouth are winless in their past 10 away league games (D2 L8), though one of those two draws came in their most recent such game against Derby (1-1).

• Plymouth's Morgan Whittaker has scored more goals against Norwich than he has against any other side in the Football League (4), all of which came last season (three in September, one in March).

Brent Pilnick
BBC Sport England

Image source, Rex Features

Plymouth Argyle will fly to their Championship away match at Norwich City on Tuesday.

The 700-mile round-trip is one of the longest away journeys Argyle face this season - only Sunderland is further.

It takes around an hour for a flight from Exeter airport to Norwich, rather than around eight or nine hours in a coach.

The team will fly up on Monday and return on Wednesday for the game, which kicks off at 19:45 GMT on Tuesday.

"We had to be in the air by 11pm after the game, and there was no way we'd have done that, so we're going to stay over and then fly back Wednesday morning," head coach Wayne Rooney said after his side's 2-2 draw with Watford on Friday.

"It's good for us to be flying, but whether it was flying or by coach, we have to prepare right and make sure we do the best to try and get a result."

Brent Pilnick
BBC Sport England

Image source, Rex Features

Never leave a Plymouth Argyle match early - eight of the last nine points the Pilgrims have won have been down to goals in the final 10 minutes.

Andre Gray's superb curling equaliser in the sixth minute of stoppage time in the draw with Watford on Friday night proved that while Wayne Rooney's side may not be at the right end of the table, they do not know when they are beaten.

Since Morgan Whittaker's dramatic 97th-minute goal secured a 2-1 win over Blackburn Rovers on 5 October three of the four games where they have avoided defeat have been because of late goals.

Without those late goals Argyle could well be six points worse off, leaving them bottom of the table on 11 points alongside Queens Park Rangers.

Gray and Whittaker found the net in the final 10 minutes to claw back a point having been 3-1 down at home to Preston North End three weeks after the Blackburn win.

Michael Obafemi's 82nd-minute strike was enough to get just a fourth league win of the season as they beat Portsmouth 1-0 at Home Park early this month - a victory which lifted Argyle out of the relegation places.

Adam Randell's goal early in the second half bucked the trend in the 1-1 draw at Derby County prior to the international break, before Gray's heroics on Friday night.

The striker - who was a free agent after ending a spell in Saudi Arabia in the summer - scored a brilliant double, his winner coming after a first-half volley that Rooney described as "world class".