Leyton Orient (H) | Hughes's Preview

Two of last season’s divisional champions meet on Tuesday night, as Argyle host Leyton Orient at Home Park in the Carabao Cup.

While Argyle were winning Sky Bet League One, Orient were topping the division below, gaining 91 points and getting promoted. They began their season on Saturday with a 1-0 defeat at Charlton Athletic, but according to Argyle assistant manager Mark Hughes, Orient gave a good accounting of themselves at the Valley, and will head to Devon hoping to perform an upset.

“It's going to be tough,” said Hughes. “It’s a good team coming to Home Park and it should be a good football game.

“I've seen their game against Charlton; there wasn’t not much in the game. Richie Wellens has got good team going there. They are strong and physical, but they play football in the right way. Whatever team we put out there, it's one that we want to win. It's going to be a tough outing.”

It is expected that Argyle will use several players who did not start Saturday’s season-opener against Huddersfield Town from the weekend, as they face Orient.

Last season, Argyle were phenomenally successful in using substitutes to affect games, during the first season in which five in-game changes were allowed. This rule stands, but teams now have nine replacements from which to select.

Hughes says that the Argyle management have a strong focus on rotation, to keep players in the best of nick, and to ensure that the game continues to be affected throughout.

Mark said: “There will be changes [on Tuesday], but we back everyone who has got the shirt that they'll do well. That's what having a squad is about.

“The lads who didn't play will have seen the standards that the lads on Saturday set and vice versa. That's what we want to build here. We want to build a really good winning culture, people who've got a high standard driving each other on.

“We rotated it quite a bit last year, and out of the four leagues, we got the most points by lads coming on scoring or assisting.

“It’s something that we drill into them every day; it's disappointing that you're not going to start, but make sure when you go on you finish the game really well. We did that last year. We're flexible, we change things. It doesn't always work, but we got it right quite a bit.

“We always said this year that everyone will get a fair go. We’ll keep everyone fresh and keep everyone on it because it's a relentless season.”