Wolves Preview: Royals Need Win After Recent Defeats

03 March 2017
By Hob Nob Anyone?

Reading are back at home this weekend as Wolves come to town hoping to make the most of Reading's dip in form. After being in touch with the top two for most of the season, the Royals finally had to say goodbye to any outside chance of automatic promotion after defeats at Huddersfield and Brighton. Having slipped to fifth in the table, Reading are still well within the play-off positions, but will need more points to secure a top six finish this season. With Newcastle visiting on Tuesday night, and Reading winning just once in their last five league games, Saturday's visit of Wolves becomes a "must win" match.

While Reading need to points to maintain the chance of promotion via the play-offs, Wolves are also in desperate need as they find themselves just two points outside the drop zone. Wolves will be pleased to see the back of February after the month saw them play five games and lose all five. One of those was their cup exit to Chelsea, but the four league defeats included three defeats at home. The pick of the bunch was a 0-1 home defeat to relegation rivals Wigan. A word of warning for the Royals though - Wolves have won three out of their last fives away games in all competitions - including a 2-1 FA Cup victory at Liverpool. The outcome of this match is far from a definite.

There is nothing new to report on the injury front, with no new worries for Jaap Stam. Competition for places remains fierce and it will be interesting to see what changes Stam makes this week after two recent defeats. Stam never seems to like fielding the same team two matches in a row and is sure to tinker with his starting eleven once more as he still attempts to find his ideal starting line-up. Swift and Kelly both came off the bench during the defeat at Brighton and both probably deserve a starting place given their form this season - but will Stam shuffle things up in their favour. Loanee players Grabban and Mutch are yet to make an impression - perhaps Kermorgant and Swift will be favoured over them this weekend.

Our last five meetings with Wolves have seen just a single Reading win. You have to go all the way back to 2009 to find our last home win, when a second minute Wolves own goal separated the sides. We lost 0-2 at Wolves at the start of this season, drew 0-0 at home the season before, and also failed to score the game before that with a 0-1 defeat on the road. Reading are certainly due a goal against Wolves.

Recent Meetings With WOLVES

DATE COMPETITION OPPOSITION SCORE REPORT
13 August 2016 Championship Wolves (Away) L: 0-2 Read report...
06 February 2016 Championship Wolves (HOME) D: 0-0 Read report...
26 December 2015 Championship Wolves (Away) L: 0-1 Read report...
07 February 2015 Championship Wolves (Away) W: 2-1 Read report...
28 September 2014 Championship Wolves (HOME) D: 3-3 Read report...
27 January 2009 Championship Wolves (HOME) W: 1-0 Read report...
30 September 2008 Championship Wolves (Away) W: 3-0 Read report...
18 March 2006 Championship Wolves (HOME) D: 1-1 Read report...
26 December 2005 Championship Wolves (Away) W: 2-0 Read report...

 

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