Plymouth vs. Southampton Betting Tips: 18/1 Bet Builder featuring a rejuvenated Adam Armstrong

There's no Premier League match scheduled for mid-day Saturday but over in the Championship there's an intriguing south coast clash between Plymouth and Southampton at Home Park, which can be viewed live on Sky Sports Main Event at 12.20pm.

We've previewed the match and pieced together our best two bets for the action, including an 18/1 Bet Builder.

Southampton have had quite the whirlwind return to the Championship following last season's relegation.

In their first match under possession-guru Russell Martin they had a staggering 80% of the ball in a 2-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday, thanks to a late goal from former Blade Che Adams. A much-changed side then suffered an embarrassing 3-1 Carabao Cup exit to League Two Gillingham. Then last weekend they were involved in a goal-drenched 4-4 thriller at home to Norwich.

Fellow Championship new boys Plymouth have also stamped four points on the board. The Green Army beat Huddersfield 3-1 in their opening game - they dispatched of Leyton Orient in the cup - then returned home from Watford with a creditable draw.

Plymouth will now host the Saints for the first time in 12 years. The hosts are priced at 14/5 to bag the win, the visitors can be backed at 10/11 to claim the spoils, while a draw could attract attention at 29/10.

We're only two matches into the Championship season, yet Adam Armstrong has already surpassed his league tally from last term after netting three goals - which puts him joint-top in the early race for the Golden Boot - averaging a goal every 56 minutes.

Armstrong will be the first to admit that he endured two very difficult seasons with the Saints following his 2021 switch from Blackburn. He scored just four Premier League goals in 53 appearances. It's early days of course, but on current evidence he has rediscovered his mojo in the Championship; a division he scored 28 goals in during Blackburn's 2020/21 season.

In fact, if you include the tail-end of his Rovers spell, Armstrong has scored 10 goals in his last five Championship games, including two hat-tricks.

Both the Saints and Armstrong may have stuttered in front of goal last season, but under new boss Martin they have already notched six goals in two games, half of which have come from Armstrong, who is now on penalty duty following the exit of set-piece maestro James Ward-Prowse.

I'll be backing the rejuvenated striker at 2/1 to continue this fine patch of goalscoring form on Saturday.

For the long shot, I've compiled an 18/1 Bet Builder from bet365.

First up, we're backing Both Teams To Score (8/13), which has landed in each of Southampton's three games this season, which have contained a combined 15 goals.

Plymouth have scored in 26 of their last 29 home games in all competitions, scoring five times in front of their fans already this season.

Speaking of Plymouth at home, Steven Schumacher's side have remarkably won 26 of those 29 matches at Home Park. They are priced at 5/6 to avoid defeat this weekend, a bet that's landed in 27 of those 29 home matches.

The Saints may now sparkle going forward, however, there's still significant room for improvement from a defensive perspective, with the 4-4 draw against Norwich extending their run to 15 matches without a clean sheet dating back to March.

Finally, we return to that man Adam Armstrong. We've already mentioned his goalscoring feats in the Championship, but for this Bet Builder we're asking the Saints striker to record Over 2.5 Shots On Target at a tempting 6/1.

Armstrong is flying at the moment, passing this mark with flying colours last weekend, when he let off six shots against Norwich, four of which were on goal.

To further enhance this, Armstrong has accumulated a staggering 24 shots on target from his last eight Championship matches, producing figures of four shots on target in six of those games.