12 February 2016
By Hob Nob Anyone?
Reading's hunt for a league win continues with yet another home fixture as promotion chasing Burnley visit the Madejski Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Burnley are third in the Championship but remain just two points off a top spot as they hunt automatic promotion. The Royals of course are back down in 15th and looking to secure a few vital points to stop far fetched talk of relegation after our slump in form. Reading have failed to win in any of their last five league games which has included three draws and two defeats. Reading have only found the back of the net three times over those five fixtures. Burnley have already scored 48 league goals this season compared to Reading's 33.
With striker Matej Vydra listed as an injury doubt, new signing Deniss Rakels will be hoping for a place in the side. Rakels played the last 11 minutes of Reading's 0-0 draw with Wolves last weekend and looked lively and keen to impress. He may be just the spark Reading need as they look to end a run of few points and few goals in the league. Danny Williams and Hal Robson-Kanu are expected to be available for selection despite having minor issues during the week, giving McDermott plenty of choice for his starting eleven. Tshibola will remain out of action after failing to successfully return from injury.
Brian McDermott will be starting to feel the pressure after failing to stop the decline in the short time he has been back as Reading manager. It is very early days in McDermott's second stint as Royals boss but fans and the board are equally impatient while waiting for the club's fortunes to finally reverse. McDermott has explained that it has been a very busy time since his return and accepts that it's time the results started to arrive: "I've had 12 games in eight weeks - it has been game after game, and we've had a transfer window involved. All sorts of stuff has been going on which has needed taking care of as far as the football is concerned. Now you feel that we can really start and get going and we've got a bit more time to work with the players to get the shape that we want and they style of play that we want, and get the results that we want."
Everything points to a Burnley win - apart from the result in our previous meeting earlier this season. Reading were 2-1 winners at Burnley back in September thanks to early goals from Nick Blackman and Lucas Piazon that put us ahead after just nine minutes. The result saw Reading move ahead of Burnley in the table, to third position, and was one of the early results that raised expectations of the season so high early on. Reading will have to improve dramatically from recent weeks to pull off a repeat of that result.
| DATE | COMPETITION | OPPOSITION | SCORE | REPORT |
| 26 September 2015 | Championship | Burnley (Away) | W: 2-1 | Read report... |
| 03 May 2014 | Championship | Burnley (HOME) | D: 2-2 | Read report... |
| 05 October 2013 | Championship | Burnley (Away) | L: 1-2 | Read report... |
| 17 February 2012 | Championship | Burnley (HOME) | W: 1-0 | Read report... |
| 15 October 2011 | Championship | Burnley (Away) | W: 1-0 | Read report... |
| 03 January 2011 | Championship | Burnley (HOME) | W: 2-1 | Read report... |
| 23 October 2010 | Championship | Burnley (Away) | W: 4-0 | Read report... |
| 23 January 2010 | FA Cup | Burnley (HOME) | W: 1-0 | Read report... |
| 12 May 2009 | Championship Play-Off | Burnley (HOME) | L: 0-2 | Read report... |
| 09 May 2009 | Championship Play-Off | Burnley (Away) | L: 0-1 | Read report... |
| 28 October 2008 | Championship | Burnley (Away) | L: 0-1 | Read report... |
| 04 October 2008 | Championship | Burnley (HOME) | W: 3-1 | Read report... |
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