Off to St Andrews then in an attempt to avoid the usual misery that tends to follow games with our midland friends. Even more so with Birmingham on a run of nine games without a win as we all know what tends to happen when playing sides with those sorts of records e.g. Villa no away wins for a year, Fulham one home win all season, Derby no league goals in god knows how long etc.
This is the sort of demanding game we're going to have aplenty over the next few weeks. Something that looks winnable but isn't going to be easy especially as we seem to be entering another defensive crisis and could be in real trouble if another centre back succumbs to injury or suspension.
Birmingham are in the process of rebuilding under new manager Zola and have already signed three new names; Cheick Keita, Emilio Nsue and Kerim Frei who could all be involved in the game. Thankfully Clayton Donaldson is injured and Greg Stewart is likely to miss out but the likes of Lukas Jutkiewicz and David Cotterill are still willing to inflict damage.
Reading have Berg, Quinn, Rakels, Harriott and Ilori all missing. Kermorgant, Blackett and Obita are also thought to be less serious carrying knocks. On the upside there is a small chance new signing Adrian Popa could on the bench.
Referee
Lancashire's Jeremy Simpson will be the man in control for this one, his 5th Reading game in just over a year
Previously...
17 Dec 2016 > Blackburn Rovers 2-3 Reading
09 Sep 2016 > Reading 2-1 Ipswich Town (managed to book 9 players)
16 Apr 2016 > Leeds United 3-2 Reading
09 Jan 2016 > Huddersfield Town 2-2 Reading (FA Cup 3)
20 Oct 2015 > Rotherham United 1-1 Reading
Historically
It took Reading until 1986 before they managed a league game with Birmingham and of the first nine league games played between the sides, seven ended in draws. To me it just seems that the fixture has subsequently struggled with an air of dour tedium ever since - particularly as Birmingham have won more games than Reading both home and away
This game will be the fifteenth league visit to St Andrews and while Reading have accounted for four wins, Birmingham have recorded six including the utterly embarrassing 6-1 "effort" that finally did for Adkins just over a couple of years ago.
Usually there are goals in this game and a clean sheet for either side is a bit unlikely (esp. in Reading's case having managed just the one to Birmingham's three). Put simply a 0-0 is the least likely outcome (so you now all know what score to put your wedge on).
