When : Tuesday 16th February 2020, 7.45pm
Where : Ashton Gate, Ashton Road, Bristol, BS3 2EJ, Bristol
Capacity : 27,000
Reading take their current bout of miserable form down to the west country for an evening visit to Bristol for a game that really needs to be won by the biscuitmen. To add to the headaches Reading’s form away from home in midweek in the league since April 2014 is, quite frankly, kak! That said there is at least the chance of a win as Bristol City begins with a ‘B’ and all of Reading’s 3 away league wins since April 2014 (40 games) have come at teams beginning with ‘B’.
City started the season really well before form dipped and were then hit by injuries that make Reading look like they have a fully fit squad. Consequently Bristol are now mid table with playoff chances rapidly disappearing and their current form (1 win and 5 defeats from the last 6 league games, including a 6-0 stuffing last time out) starting to become a worry. That form is also a worry for Reading as it is not uncommon for Reading to be the team that allows opponents to start reversing out of bad form problems and that stuffing of City probably won’t help things.
Nakhi Wells and Famara Diedhiou are the leading scorers with 6 goals apiece. Neither need much introduction esp. Mr Wells who is more often than not a right royal pain to Reading defences. In addition Jamie Paterson is fit and healthy so another persistent thorn for Reading to deal with.
City’s injury list sees Alfie Mawson, Chris Martin, Andrei Weimann, Tommy Rowe, Jay Dasilva, George Nurse, and Cam Pring among those injured. Henri Lansbury and Steven Sessegnon both signed last month and will be available. Reading should have both Puscas and Araruna available for the bench but I would expect Swift and Meite to still be absent along with Liam Moore.
Referee
Oliver “when is a penalty not a penalty” Langford
Previously
02 Dec 20 > Sheffield Wednesday 1-1 Reading
19 Apr 19 > Bristol City 1-1 Reading
12 Jan 19 > Reading 2-0 Nottingham Forest
24 Nov 2018 > Wigan Athletic 0-0 Reading
22 Aug 2018 > Blackburn Rovers 2-2 Reading
17 Mar 2018 > Norwich City 3-2 Reading
26 Dec 2017 > Bristol City 2-0 Reading
28 Oct 17 > Reading 0-2 Middlesbrough
12 Jan 17 > Reading 0-1 Queen’s Park Rangers
03 Dec 16 > Fulham 5-0 Reading
04 Oct 16 > Portsmouth 2-2 Reading U23 (Checkacrowd Trophy)
27 Sep 16 > Brentford 4-1 Reading
19 Jan 16 > Reading 5-2 Huddersfield Town (FAC3R)
16 Dec 15 > Hull City 2-1 Reading
11 Mar 14 > Leeds United 2-4 Reading
14 Dec 13 > Huddersfield Town 0-1 Reading
06 Mar 12 > Reading 1-0 Portsmouth
27 Aug 11 > Hull City 1-0 Reading
16 Oct 10 > Reading 0-1 Swansea City
09 Feb 10 > Reading 1-0 Plymouth Argyle
Historically
Many a season has been shared with the red half of Bristol with this being the 48th league visit to face City.
Reading have amassed 14 wins from the previous 46 games compared to City’s 25. City do have an unfortunate habit of scoring though as they average around 2 goals a game in this fixture.
How to follow the game
- Listen to Radio 5 Live and/or a myriad of other radio stations for score flashes
- Ring/text a mate for updates
- Use an iFollow subscription
- Red button from around 7.40pm
- BBC Radio Berkshire (FM : 104.4, 104.1 or 95.4 depending where you are in the area)