It's the longest trip of the season for Plymouth - and away fans are warned that the M6 faces a closure from 8pm on Friday night [10 January] all the way through to Monday morning, which makes getting to Brunton Park on Saturday slightly more difficult for all concerned.
Please follow the matrix signs on the M6 for advice on diversions and alternative routes.
The Pilgrims currently occupy sixth place in League Two and with one or even two games in hand on most of their closest rivals they sit nicely poised to make a 2020 second-half-of-the-season promotion charge.
Having said that, they suffered a blip on New Year's Day with a defeat at home to table-toppers Swindon, but they quickly bounced back when they went up to Scunthorpe last Saturday, where they secured a comfortable 3-1 victory.
That win meant they had taken 12 points from an available 15 through the festive fixtures and were catapulted right back into the hunt for an automatic spot.
Star man Antoni Sarcevic has six goals and four assists to his name, but there has been an even spread of goals across the squad from what is a very potent attacking outfit. Callum McFadzean has five, Joel Grant has four, and Joe Edwards, Byron Moore, Ryan Taylor and Dominic Taylor all have three-a-piece.
Our meeting at Home Park in October went the way of the hosts as Joel Grant gave his side the lead midway through the first half. The points were sealed in time added on for the game when Sarcevic smashed one into the net with almost the last kick of the game.
Watch the highlights from that game here:
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Manager’s thoughts ...
Speaking ahead of the game, head coach Chris Beech said: "This game represents an opportunity to turn our attentions back to league business. Ryan Lowe brings a Plymouth side packed with quality and options, he knows the league inside and out having achieved success beforehand with Bury, so this won’t be easy.
"It will be a real test for us, both sides are in pursuit of the points for different reasons and that always makes for a competitive affair.
"One thing’s for sure, as we move through January the league form for a lot of clubs starts to become inconsistent, sides start to gain points, drop points and unexpected results turn up at close of business on a Saturday afternoon, and bottom often beats top.
"From a coaching perspective we’re under way with implementing more of how I want us to play. It was really pleasing to see some of the work we’re doing on the training ground take shape during last Saturday’s game.
"We had more players in the opposition box, more waves of attack in the final third, intricate one-two passing sequences taking place in the opposition penalty area between midfield and attack – these are all good signs for us going forward and I want to see more of the same this weekend."
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Head to Head
The sides have met on a total of 40 occasions over the years with a fairly even split of 14 victories to United and 18 to Argyle.
| Carlisle wins | Draws | Plymouth wins | |
| League | 13 | 8 | 18 |
| FA Cup | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 14 | 8 | 18 |
Our last league meeting prior to this season was at Home Park in March 2017 when Graham Carey and former-Blue Jake Jervis scored first half goals to secure the points for the home side.
Watch the highlights from that game here:
Plymouth were at Brunton Park in the August of that season, and it was the Blues who took the spoils on that occasion as Reggie Lambe bagged the only goal of the game.
Watch the highlights from that game here:
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Man in the middle
The referee for this game is Mr Martin Coy. Martin has taken charge of 19 games so far this season and has shown 62 yellow cards and two reds.
This is the second time he's taken charge of a Carlisle game this campaign - his first coming in our 2-1 defeat at the hands of Port Vale back in November. Ryan Loft put us ahead with just one minute on the clock, but second half goals from Worrall and Cullen took the points the way of the hosts. Loft and Canice Carroll had their names taken on the day.
We saw him twice in the 2018/19 season, with our first meeting for the home defeat against Grimsby in October. The goal came in the first half from Luke Hendrie, but there were no United names entered into the book.
He was back here a month later for the 1-1 Checkatrade Trophy meeting with Stoke City under-21s. Jack Sowerby scored the goal and Gary Liddle was shown a yellow card.
He was with us three times during the 2017/18 season, with his first visit up north coming in August 2017 for our 3-0 home victory over Cheltenham. Tom Miller and Reggie Lambe added to a fifth minute own goal from Harry Pell, and Mark Ellis was the only Carlisle booking on the day.
We saw him again for our November Checkatrade Trophy group game against Fleetwood, where a certain Jack Sowerby opened the scoring on the night. Wes Burns doubled the lead just before half time, and a late Shaun Miller goal did little to affect the outcome as the visitors took the win come full time. Tom Miller and Jamie Devitt received yellow cards that night.
His last trip to Brunton Park during that campaign was for our 2-2 draw with Crawley in March. Richie Bennett and Hallam Hope appeared to have done the job with goals to give us a 2-0 lead, but the Red Devils recovered and claimed their point courtesy of a brace from Kalen Grant. United names taken were Clint Hill, Hallam Hope and Tom Parkes.
Referee - Martin Coy
Assistant Referee 1 - Paul Newhouse
Assistant Referee 2 - Gary Hilton
Fourth Official - Chris Isherwood
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Ticket information
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