Reasons to be Cheerful - Argyle v Portsmouth

Argyle are unbeaten in their last three home ties against Portsmouth. Argyle home record against Pompey from the last three years goes; won, drawn, won, with Argyle having a +6 goal difference. Pompey's last win at Home Park was a 3-1 victory in the League Cup in August 1998, Sean McCarthy scoring Argyle's only goal.

In Argyle's last five meetings with Pompey, the Pilgrims have scored three on three of those occasions. The first of those meetings was in August 2012 in the League Cup, as Johnny Gorman, Paris Cowan-Hall and Nick Chadwick scored as Argyle cruised to a 3-0 victory. The second of the three saw Reuben Reid score once and Conor Hourihane score twice as the Pilgrims drew 3-3 at Fratton Park. The final one of the three was in last season's Dockyard Derby at Home Park with Reuben Reid netting twice and Lewis Alessandra also getting on the scoresheet.

Argyle have never won on 15 August, despite playing on that date eight times. The Pilgrims have lost five and drawn three of those games, scoring a mere two. Argyle's last fixture on that date was at Home Park against Queens Park Rangers in 2009. QPR's Kaspars Gorkss scored an own-goal on that day, meaning the only Argyle player to ever score in a competitive fixture on that date was Nicky Law in a 2-1 loss at Manchester City in 1987. For those of you who believe in karma, Saturday could be a good day. 

Saturday's game is the 2,500th competitive home fixture in Argyle history, and should the Pilgrims be successful, it will be the first time we have won back-to-back opening league games since 1978-19, when Malcolm Allison's side won 3-1 at Chesterfield then 2-1 at home to Lincoln City.