News and Views
Wednesday And Reading Hope To Stay In Top Six
16 March 2017
By Hob Nob Anyone?
The run of tough away fixtures against play-off and promotion rivals continues with a trip to Sheffield Wednesday on Friday evening. The Royals travel to Sheffield after recent away defeats at Preston, Brighton and Huddersfield. Those three defeats, in which Reading have failed to score a goal, have cast Reading's promotion hopes into serious doubt with the Royals now just three points inside the play-off positions. Fulham, one place outside the play-offs, are hoping to sneak into sixth place at the expense of either the Royals or Wednesday. All the games are crucial at this stage of the season, but another away defeat for Reading could have serious consequences on a top six finish.
Reading have only won two games out of their last eight - that's hardly the form of a promotion chasing side. Away from home we have picked up just a single point from our last four attempts. The only consolation for Reading is that Sheffield Wednesday's recent form is so similar. The form for both sides in the league reads two defeats, a win and a draw, followed by another defeat. While Reading were losing 0-3 at Preston last weekend, the Owls were losing 0-2 at Aston Villa. However Wednesday's last two home games have been a 5-1 win over Norwich City and a 1-1 draw with Burton Albion. The Royals will need a change in their form away from the Madejski to get anything from this. If Reading are beaten on the road again they are likely to be the only team in the top ten with a negative goal difference.
Jaap Stam may happily state that the plan was never to get promoted this season, but having been in the play-off positions for most of the season, it will still be a huge disappointment to drop out of the top six on the final run in. Reading were third in the table for ages before the recent drop in form. The outside chance of automatic promotion has long gone but Reading should still remain favourites for a play-off finish.
After a poor defensive performance at Preston, Stam may have both Liam Moore and Paul McShane available for selection. Moore has been out injured and McShane was replaced after 73 minutes at Preston - giving Reece Oxford some rare time on the pitch. Stam's changes this week will probably be in defence, but there are question marks in midfield where Liam Kelly could be back in the side after being rested. George Evans was an unused substitute last weekend and is another option. For the home side striker Forestieri is expected to miss out through injury and defender Vincent Sasso will definately be ruled out as he begins his suspension.
Recent Meetings With Sheffield Wednesday
| DATE | COMPETITION | OPPOSITION | SCORE | REPORT |
| 10 December 2016 | Championship | Sheff Wed (HOME) | W: 2-1 | Read report... |
| 23 January 2016 | Championship | Sheff Wed (HOME) | D: 1-1 | Read report... |
| 19 August 2015 | Championship | Sheff Wed (Away) | D: 1-1 | Read report... |
| 31 January 2015 | Championship | Sheff Wed (HOME) | W: 2-0 | Read report... |
| 20 September 2014 | Championship | Sheff Wed (Away) | L: 0-1 | Read report... |
| 08 February 2014 | Championship | Sheff Wed (HOME) | L: 0-2 | Read report... |
| 02 November 2013 | Championship | Sheff Wed (Away) | L: 2-5 | Read report... |
| 27 February 2010 | Championship | Sheff Wed (HOME) | W: 5-0 | Read report... |
| 05 December 2009 | Championship | Sheff Wed (Away) | W: 2-0 | Read report... |
| 03 March 2009 | Championship | Sheff Wed (Away) | W: 2-1 | Read report... |
| 16 September 2008 | Championship | Sheff Wed (HOME) | W: 6-0 | Read report... |
Discussion On This Story:
Sutekh
A night out in Sheffield beckons on a glorious Friday for another go at trying to get points away from home against a team in the top six having failed on every other attempt thus far. And a result, in any form of pointage, would probably be considered glorious based on that run
Sheffield Wednesday, like Reading, are starting to feel the nerves as the business end of the season rapidly approaches and are looking nervously towards the likes of Fulham and Norwich who are a getting a little too close to the partaking of the end of season extra fun for good measure.
Thankfully the Owls are struggling a little with team selections as not only will defender Vincent Sasso be missing through suspension, after his dismissal at Aston Villa, but Tom Lees, Kieran Lee, Sam Hutchinson, Gary Hooper and Almen Abdi are all sidelined through injury. On top of that manager Carlos Carvalho was also dismissed by the referee at Villa and, perhaps most importantly, it is also touch and go whether striker Fernando Forestieri will be available due to injury.
Reading hope to have both Moore and McShane fit for the excursion up north but Jordon Mutch is expected to miss after picking up a knock at Preston. Other than that it’s pretty much a full squad save for the usual absentees of whom only Rakels has a chance of involvement.
Referee
It’s County Durham’s Geoff Eltringham taking up the reins for this one
Previously
04 Feb 2017 > Ipswich Town 2-2 Reading
13 Dec 2016 > Leeds United 2-0 Reading
02 Apr 2016 > Bolton Wanderers 0-1 Reading
12 Dec 2015 > Preston North End 1-0 Reading
07 Apr 2015 > Blackpool 1-1 Reading
23 Nov 2013 > Blackburn Rovers 0-0 Reading
14 Feb 2012 > Derby County 0-1 Reading
Historically
Not a particularly happy hunting ground for Reading but then probably about average for the club for a northern trek and only nine previous league visits. Of those nine two have been won and four lost. However Reading have not won on any of their last three visits, losing twice, and shipping seven goals in the process (although five of those came in the same game).
CountryRoyal
From our point of view at least, I'm not convinced at all. Our away form is dire and we're not expected to come away with anything. Big game? Yes. But there is still plenty of football left and more than enough fixtures where we should be able to pick up points, especially at home,
Besides, what was the last game where we weren't expected to get anything? Newcastle and yes it was home but we saw how that turned out. I think we might surprise people.
Saaaaaaaammmmmm
Ian Royal
Pretty much our best available XI IMO. I assume that Evans and Kelly are out given they haven't made the bench
Hang on, how can we have a million midfielders, but none on the bench!?
Are GROFLavenberch, WeiseROFL, Quinn, Kelly, Evans, and Mutch ALL injured?! What about Barrett, or Frost, or Rinomhota... surely it's better to have any midfielder than none and three strikers and a winger. The fact that Mendes has made the bench again is a pretty telling sign that half our squad is out.
Oh yeah, I forgot normal games start at 7.45. We've already kicked off.
Sutekh
Pretty much our best available XI IMO. I assume that Evans and Kelly are out given they haven't made the bench
Hang on, how can we have a million midfielders, but none on the bench!?
Are GROFLavenberch, WeiseROFL, Quinn, Kelly, Evans, and Mutch ALL injured?! What about Barrett, or Frost, or Rinomhota... surely it's better to have any midfielder than none and three strikers and a winger. The fact that Mendes has made the bench again is a pretty telling sign that half our squad is out.
Oh yeah, I forgot normal games start at 7.45. We've already kicked off.
You forget that Stam plays Grabban as a midfielder
Ian Royal
I'd tried to forget about Grabban in midfield Sutekh...
Wednesday sound happy to let us have it. Which is odd given we're 1-0 up away from home.
Berg and Blackett winding up the Wednesday fans with some 'robust' challenges. The last thing we want to do is rile the crowd and give the Wednesday players an adrenaline lift.
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