Plymouth Argyle plays host to Burnley on Wednesday night in a Championship clash that has huge implications at both ends of the table.
This serves as a third successive home game at the start for Muslic’s tenure, but he’s hoping for a better outcome than the two prior, which ended in defeat against QPR and a stalemate against Oxford United.
Burnley, on the other hand, is flying high near the automatic promotion places and will be looking for three points to get their quest for an instant return to the Premier League back on track after a 0-0 draw against Sunderland on Friday night.
The Clarets can ill afford to lose any more ground on the two sides above them, particularly with a mouth-watering clash to come against Leeds on Monday.
Here, we look at the eight players set to sit out of Wednesday night’s clash…
Conor Hazard
Northern Ireland international Conor Hazard is a doubt for this fixture, having missed the last two games through injury, leaving Dan Grimshaw as Plymouth’s other option in goal.
Muslic confirmed after the Oxford game that he hoped to have him available for the QPR clash, but as he didn’t play then, he could well miss this game soon after.
Joe Edwards
Joe Edwards has been out of action for a while after undergoing surgery on a hamstring injury in October.
He helped out on the coaching side of things with former boss Wayne Rooney but remains a longer-term absentee on the pitch—the Pilgrims are clearly missing his leadership out there.
Michael Obafemi
On loan at Plymouth from Burnley, Michael Obafemi will be forced to sit this one out due to the terms of his contract.
Even if he had been available, there’s no guarantee Obafemi would have played anyway, as he wasn’t in the squad at the weekend and hasn’t really been in favour throughout his time in Devon, where he has scored just two league goals in 20 appearances.
Manuel Benson
Benson has been sidelined since hobbling off against Blackburn in August with a calf tear, but Scott Parker has confirmed he is back in training—the Angolan winger is still a way off being match fit, though.
Nathan Redmond
On a similar comeback trail to Benson, Nathan Redmond is also back in training but still some way off returning to full fitness.
Redmond hasn’t kicked a ball for Burnley all season and has been a bit-part player since joining in the summer of 2023, with links over a return to Birmingham City emerging prior to the January transfer window.
Jordan Beyer
Jordan Beyer has been anything but a bit-part player when he’s been available for Burnley, but it’s not that often he has actually been available of late, again, not kicking a ball all season.
His injury was much more serious, and Parker confirmed in the lead-up to this clash that he is still a long way off returning to action—Burnley aren’t exactly missing the £13 million signing from 2023 due to CJ Egan-Riley and Maxime Esteve’s form together, but they could certainly do with him being a part of the squad soon.
Enock Agyei
Like most of the other Burnley players listed above, Enock Agyei has had a hard time with injuries since he arrived at Turf Moor, and he is currently sidelined now.
Aaron Ramsey
Also on the grass, according to Parker, is Aaron Ramsey, who has spent more than a year on the sidelines since picking up a knee injury at the end of 2023.
Ramsey returned to training iin SeptemberS but seems no nearer to making a full return yet, and Burnley is crying out for a player with his creativity in the final third as they continue to struggle scoring goals on a regular basis, despite their lofty league position.
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