David Artell admits that this weekend’s opponents, Plymouth Argyle, have good players but the Crewe Alexandra boss was quick to point out that we have good players too.

Artell welcomes Ryan Lowe and his promotion seeking Pilgrims to Gresty Road for the season opener and Artell says that Plymouth’s playing budget will make them one of the favourites for automatic promotion.

It should be an intriguing first game of the campaign with Lowe securing five signings from his former club, Bury. One of those signings has been the influential playmaker Danny Mayor, someone the gaffer rates very highly after he transformed our game at Gigg Lane on New Years’ Day.

Crewe had been the better side in the first half and had taken the lead through Jordan Bowery’s early goal but Mayor helped turn that 1-0 deficit into a 3-1 win by the end.

Artell told the club’s official website: “Mayor was one of the best, if not the best player, in the division last season. I think he should be playing higher but Ryan has enticed him down to Plymouth and we know what a good player he can be on the day.

“Plymouth are a big club with a big budget so they are going to have good players. They earn a lot more money than our lot so they should be significantly better but we have some good players as well.

“I spoke to a League Two manager the other day and he said we are the best footballing side in the division and that is his view. We can play some good stuff and if we play to our strengths then we can give anyone a game at this level. We proved it last season with some of the results we had against the top teams.”