Exclusive: Lee Hendrie makes Plymouth Argyle survival claim under Miron Muslic | OneFootball

Lee Hendrie has spoken exclusively to Football League World about the Pilgrims' chances of staying in the Championship.

Lee Hendrie has praised Miron Muslic for the job that he has done at Plymouth Argyle ahead of the final two weekends of the 2024/25 Championship campaign.

The Pilgrims had a mixed Easter weekend, and after suffering a heartbreaking 2-1 defeat to Middlesbrough on Good Friday, they made a lacklustre Coventry City pay at Home Park on Monday in a stunning 3-1 victory.

While they remain at the foot of the table, they are just three points off safety, but they are relying on both Derby County and Luton Town to drop points in at least one of their last two fixtures to have a chance of survival, while Hull City are just five points ahead.

Plymouth travel to a struggling Preston North End side on Saturday before they welcome Premier League-bound Leeds United on the last day of the season, two matches that will decide the fate of the Devonshire outfit.

Hendrie weighs in on the job Muslic has done at Plymouth

Argyle looked to be a lost cause under Wayne Rooney, but Muslic has come in and made them a lot more solid at the back, with his team conceding just 32 goals in 19 matches compared to the 51 that the Greens were on the wrong end of in 23 games under the previous head coach.

This has allowed them to become more of a threat going forward, and the likes of Mustapha Bundu and Ryan Hardie have stepped up in recent weeks.

Speaking exclusively to Football League World, Lee Hendrie has spoken about Plymouth's chances of staying in the Championship.

He told FLW: "Plymouth had another good win against Coventry. It's just so tight because you look at the top end of the table with the play-offs, all the teams lost, all the teams down at the bottom won.

"I felt that Derby would be the ones that would stay up and I felt that Plymouth would be the ones that would go down.

"They're all tricky fixtures now, regardless of who you're playing. It doesn't really matter, even for the teams that are promoted. Plymouth have that tough last game, but I think it's such a hard one to call."

Hendrie continued: "Miron Muslic has given them every single chance of staying up and what a fabulous job he's done since going in there. He’s made them solid and compact, but he's also given them a real big chance.

"I certainly wrote them off. A few weeks ago, I thought they would have been relegated. I think it's 50:50 now, as you could well imagine, because there are a few teams that could have got sucked into it, and just a couple of wins can change the bottom three quite quickly."

Muslic has perhaps proven his point in Rooney debate

While Plymouth still have a lot of work to do if they are to stay in the division, Muslic has proven that this team does have a decent level of quality in it and they may have stayed up comfortably had he been in charge from the start of the campaign.

Rooney's struggles were evident to see, and the current Argyle boss spoke confidently about the job that he has done since taking charge.

Following his side's win over Coventry on Monday, he said, via The Mirror: "I think if I'm the head coach from day one we will be far, far away from the relegation zone. We would be safe five games ago already. I truly believe if I will be here with my staff from day one we will be nowhere near where we are right now."

Nevertheless, Muslic has still had his shortcomings, and defeats to the likes of Derby at home have been costly in their fight for survival. With the situation still out of Plymouth's control, supporters will be watching on nervously this weekend.