Kari Arnason is looking forward to returning to action and, he hopes, helping Plymouth Argyle end their recent lean spell away to Colchester United on Saturday.

The central defender missed the Pilgrims' last npower League One outing due to suspension, and could only watch in frustration as the Greens slumped to a distressing 3-0 home defeat to Peterborough United on August 28.

However, the Iceland international is hopeful of forcing his way into manager Peter Reid's starting line-up for Saturday's trip to Essex.

Arnason acknowledged that Argyle's present return of four points from as many League matches and consequent lowly position in the table were a concern to the players.

Reid's team have won just once this season, in the opener away to Southampton. Since then, Argyle have drawn 1-1 at home to Carlisle United, lost 2-1 at Walsall and been pummelled by Peterborough.

The Pilgrims are fourth from bottom in League One, but Arnason insisted that it was far too early into the campaign to start pushing any panic buttons.

"We need to start winning, that's pretty obvious, and I'm looking forward to helping the team do that," said Arnason, whose absence from the Peterborough clash came after he received a red card at Walsall.

"The spirit in the dressing room is still good, despite the fact we haven't made as good a start to the season as we'd obviously hoped for.

"The defeat against Peterborough was horrible and hard to take for everyone. But we're still learning to adjust to life in League One, which has been maybe just a bit more difficult than we thought.

"It's not just the fact that we aren't scoring enough goals, as I believe we have good enough strikers in our squad.

"We take a collective responsibility for ourselves and where the club is in the League, which I'm sure is only temporary. But it's something we need to turn around as soon as we can, and nobody will be trying harder to do that than the players.

"We're working hard on the field in training and listening to what the gaffer [Reid] is asking from us.

"We just need to cut out some of the individual mistakes that have cost us dearly in games.

"Personally, I know, I've not been 100 per cent happy with my performances this season, and I want to do better.

"If we can do that and start to put our game together, then I'm sure our true form will start to surface. It needs to be sooner rather than later – everyone agrees on that."