When : Saturday 1 March 2025, 3pm
Where : The Brick Stadium
, Loire Drive, Robin Park, Wigan, WN5 0UHCapacity : 25,138
Reading's promotion bandwagon is off to Lancashire next to see their mates from Wigan. Wigan Athletic are one of the few sides that Reading have played against in every division of the Football and Premier Leagues.
Wigan haven't been threatening the promotion places this season, they've been much more mid table obscurity which is a little unusual for them at the lower levels. Sat in 16th a good 14 points behind the mighty Royals highlights their largely erratic season but getting the points in Wigan is never ever particularly easy for Reading so many may have the Latics as slight favourites for this one.
Wigan had a largely miserable February, managing to avoid collecting 3 points until Huddersfield rocked up at their place last night. Form is therefore a point a game at the moment given they’ve taken 6 points from their last 6 games.
Forest loanee forward Dale Taylor (7) and midfielder Thelo Aasgaard (8) have been the leading scorers for Wigan so far. Jamie Carragher's son James is also turning out for the Latics and one time bright Fulham starlet Stephen Sessegnon is another who can still deliver on his day so there's enough about Wigan to cause problems if you let them.
Yiadom should be back after he got through 90 minutes for the u21s on Monday still be interesting to see whether he goes straight back in or whether he’s on the bench though. Meanwhile Elliott is nearing game time himself though his return is more likely to be in a couple of weeks time.
Referee
Ollie “I either hate Reading or like away wins” Yates
Previously
24 Feb 24 > Reading 2-3 Shrewsbury Town
09 Dec 23 > Reading 1-3 Barnsley
Historically
This is the 54th league game against Wigan and so the 27th trek to make use of their hospitality.
As you'd expect for most northern outposts Wigan is not a particularly happy one for Reading who have always found victories difficult to come by up there stretching all the way back to Wigan's inaugural FL season in 1978 when Reading crashed 3-0.
In the 26 previous games played, 12 have been lost and 5 won. It took until the 13th visit to record a win (there were none whatsoever managed at Wigan's old home of Springfield Park) so at least the wins are in living memory. Recent form there is actually OK with 2 wins and a draw to show from the last 4 visits but the one defeat in that run was on the last visit there in January 2024.
How to follow the game
- Get a ticket and travel
- Listen to Radio 5 Live and/or a myriad of other radio stations for score flashes
- Ring/text a mate for updates
- Use a RoyalTV subscription
- BBC Radio Berkshire (FM : 104.4, 104.1 or 95.4 depending where you are in the area)
