Plymouth Argyle begin their first campaign back in the Championship with a fixture against Huddersfield Town on Saturday.
While the home side won League One during 2022-23, the visitors were required to put together a strong run of form at the end of the season to narrowly avoid relegation.
Match preview
There were times during last season when some may have expected Ipswich Town and Sheffield Wednesday to eventually ease Plymouth out of the automatic promotion race in League One.
Instead, it was the higher-profile teams that could not last the pace, as Plymouth accumulated 101 points from their 46 games to earn a place in the second tier.
Steven Schumacher has followed that success by conducting what appears to be some shrewd business, with last season's key loanees Bali Mumba and Finn Azaz among eight new arrivals at Home Park.
Morgan Whittaker is also back at Plymouth after being recalled by Swansea City in January, and Schumacher has a squad at his disposal that are capable of retaining their status in this division.
While Argyle enjoyed a positive pre-season campaign, losing 3-1 at Swindon Town last weekend was not ideal preparation ahead of what could turn out to be an important fixture come the end of the season.
Meanwhile, Neil Warnock had planned to end his managerial career yet again when successfully keeping Huddersfield in the Championship in 2022-23.
However, the vastly-experienced boss has been tempted back to the dugout yet again, tasked with trying to provide Huddersfield with a much more comfortable campaign than they endured last time.
Although the Yorkshire outfit ultimately finished nine points above the bottom three, that was a result of a last-gasp burst of wins and points deductions for their rivals.
As it stands, senior additions have been limited with experienced goalkeeper Chris Maxwell and Stoke City defender Tom Edwards being brought to the John Smith's Stadium.
Nevertheless, Warnock may be happy with the relative continuity, with Huddersfield ending pre-season with wins over Stockport County and Heerenveen without conceding a goal ahead of a return to one of his former clubs.
- W
- W
- W
- D
- W
- L