News and Views
Reading Travel To Third Placed Burnley
25 September 2015
By Hob Nob Anyone?
Reading have a tough visit to third placed Burnley this weekend as they attempt to put League Cup defeat behind them and push on with the League campaign. Expectation at Reading is suddenly very high, and the 1-2 home defeat to Everton on Tuesday night has done nothing to stem the excitement at the club. Reading are
currently sixth in the early Championship table and will be hunting for their third away league win of the new season.
The new signings have combined well already with the remainder of last season's squad to give a squad full of depth and clear potential.
Out of the "old" players, Nick Blackman has transformed himself and has already scored 7 goals this season - including six in the last six fixtures. Orlando Sa looked to be
coming good after hitting four goals but was forced to miss the last two games after his red card in the Derby defeat. The trip to Burnley will see Sa miss out as he completes
his three match suspension. Anton Ferdinand is also expected to miss out as he recovers from injury so Michael Hector is expected to continue on duty in the centre of defence.
Steve Clarke made a number of changes in midweek for the League Cup game but is expected to shuffle things around again, and back towards his side that won 2-0 at Bristol City in our last league outing. That will mean that McShane will find himself back in defence with Hector. In-form players Tshibola and Norwood will continue league duty in midfield. With Sa missing, McCleary should start again with Vydra and Blackman up-front.
The last time Reading and Burnley met was in the 2013/2014 Championship Season. We were beaten 1-2 at Turf Moor and secured a point return from the two games with a 2-2 draw at
the Madejski. That 2-2 draw meant that Reading missed out on the play-offs in dramatic fashion on the final day of the season. Out of Reading's three goals against Burnley that season two were own goals with Garath McCleary scoring in the home fixture.
Before that season Reading had the upper hand with a run of five straight wins.
| Reading and Burnley - Head to head record (since August 1994) | |
| Games Between Reading and Burnley | 26 |
| Reading Wins | 12 |
| Burnley Wins | 6 |
| Draws | 8 |
| Reading Goals | 37 |
| Burnley Goals | 26 |
| Average Goals Per Game | 2.42 |
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