14 February 2017
By Alex Bower
"Brentford have got a great team. They like to play football as well. They have quality players upfront, in midfield, well basically everywhere in their team. We've seen that if you give them time and let them play then they are going to make it very difficult for us."
- Reading FC Manager Jaap Stam
"We know this league is hard and that every team will make it difficult to get a win. There will be more surprises to come, so we need to concentrate and keep going. Tuesday is another game we'll be trying to win."
- Reading FC Striker Yann Kermorgant
While the Valentine's Day fixture is not ideal for some Reading FC fans, the Royals will take on Brentford FC on Tuesday evening. Reading will be hoping to improve on their 0-0 draw at the weekend against Barnsley while Brentford will want to bounce back from a 4-2 away defeat to Preston North End.
Jaap Stam's men will have been disappointed with what was their second draw on the bounce. The Royals are, however, still very much in the promotion race and currently sit fourth in the Championship table.
The continuing concern for Reading will be their defensive injuries. Paul McShane, Joey van den Berg and Tiago Ilori remain sidelined while Jordan Mutch may miss out again after picking up a knock. Brentford manager Dean Smith, meanwhile, has no new injury worries but will be without Rico Henry, Alan Judge and Lewis Macleod.
Reading will once more go into the game as favourites but, as the Barnsley result demonstrated, anything can happen in this league. Brentford also happen to be somewhat of a bogey team for the Royals, with the Bees winning five of their last seven league meetings with the Berkshire club.
Regardless of result, the game should have plenty of plenty of goals if history is anything to go on. Brentford won the reverse fixture 4-1 back in September and their six league games in 2017 have seen 25 goals scored (13 for and 12 against). If Reading can show signs of improvement on the attacking front and cope with the ever worsening surface, then this game could be theirs for the taking.
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