Plymouth Argyle and Hearts kick-start their pre-season preparations with a friendly encounter at the Marbella Football Centre in Spain on Thursday evening.

While the hosts are preparing for life back in the Championship, the visitors are gearing up for their third successive season in the Scottish Premiership.

Match preview

Four years on from lifting the League Two title, Plymouth will be competing in the second tier of English football after being crowned champions of League One last season.

The Pilgrims managed to fend of stiff competition from title rivals Ipswich Town and Sheffield Wednesday to finish at the summit of League One with 101 points after winning 31 of their 46 league matches.

Steven Schumacher was named League One Manager of the Season after leading Plymouth back to the Championship for the first time in 13 years, and the 39-year-old is hopeful of building a squad capable of maintaining their second-tier status in 2023-24.

Plymouth returned from their summer break at the end of June before travelling to Marbella for warm-weather training, with Schumacher's men having been put through their paces since Monday ahead of Thursday's friendly clash with Hearts.

The Pilgrims, who drew 0-0 with Hearts in their last pre-season meeting in Edinburgh back in 2009, are scheduled to face Plymouth Parkway, Torquay United, Forest Green Rovers, Salford City and Swindon Town in England before they begin the new season at home against Huddersfield Town on August 5.

After finishing third in the Scottish Premiership in 2021-22, Hearts had to settle for fourth place in the top flight last season, accumulating seven points fewer than the previous campaign.

The Jam Tarts were seemingly on course to secure third spot, but they eventually finished three points behind third-placed Aberdeen following a poor run of just two victories in their final 11 matches, which ultimately brought an end to Robbie Neilson's three-year managerial reign at Tynecastle.

Steven Naismith was placed in temporary charge at the end of April and he has since been appointed as the club's technical director because his lack of a UEFA Pro Licence means that Hearts cannot name the 36-year-old as either a manager or head coach.

Naismith cannot begin to obtain his licence until next year, but in the meantime he will prepare his Hearts side for pre-season matches against Plymouth, Dunfermline Athletic, Dunbar United and Leeds United before their opening Premiership fixture of the new season away against St Johnstone on August 5.

Hearts also have Europa Conference League action to look forward to and they will discover their third-round qualifier opponents later this month.

Team News

Plymouth have made three signings so far this summer, with centre-backs Julio Pleguezuelo and Lewis Gibson both joining the club on free transfers, while full-back Kaine Kesler-Hayden has signed on loan from Aston Villa.

However, Niall Ennis, Danny Mayor, Conor Grant, James Wilson, Luke Jephcott and James Bolton have all left the club, while last season's League One Young Player of the Year Bali Mumba has returned to parent club Norwich City following a successful loan spell with the Pilgrims.

Goalkeeper Michael Cooper won the League One Golden Glove award last season after keeping 23 clean sheets, but the 23-year-old will not be involved on Thursday as he continues to recover from an ACL rupture sustained in February.

As for Hearts, they are yet to make any signings, at the time of writing, so far this summer, but they have seen Josh Ginnelly, Robert Snodgrass, Gary Mackay-Steven, Michael Smith, Euan Henderson and Scott McGill all depart the club on free transfers, with the former joining Championship club Swansea City.

Forty-year-old goalkeeper Craig Gordon suffered a double leg break on Christmas Eve last year, and he has since revealed that he has upped his workload in training and hopes to begin outdoor rehabilitation during pre-season.

Liam Boyce missed the majority of last season due to an ACL injury, but the striker has since been pictured training with his teammates in Marbella and he could be involved on Thursday, as could last season's top scorer Lawrence Shankland who found the net 28 times in 47 games across all tournaments.

Plymouth Argyle possible starting lineup:
Burton; Pleguezuelo, Scarr, Gillesphey; Kesler-Hayden, Houghton, Randell, Edwards; Wright, Azaz; Hardie

Hearts possible starting lineup:
Clark; Atkinson, Halkett, Rowles, Cochrane; Devlin, Haring; Oda, Shankland, McKay; Boyce

We say: Plymouth Argyle 2-2 Hearts

A closely-fought contest between two evenly-matched teams could be on the cards on Thursday, and with little to separate the two sides, we can see an entertaining score draw played out in their opening pre-season fixture.

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