15 August 2017
By Hob Nob Anyone?
The Royals face Aston Villa at the Madejski Stadium tonight in a fixture that features two sides off to a slow start in the Championship. Both sides have picked up just a single league point from two fixtures and will be looking for a first league win of the new season. Aston Villa kicked-off with a 1-1 home draw against Hull before a 0-3 away defeat against Cardiff City at the weekend. Reading really should have picked up three points against Fulham on Saturday after leading against a Fulham side that played nearly the entire game with 10 men.
Liam Kelly's goal wasn't enough to defeat Fulham and Reading will need to have much more urgency and willingness to get into the opposition box if they are going to defeat Villa. Liam Kelly has scored all three of Reading's goals so far this season and with question marks over our performances so far this season will surely be first on the teamsheet tonight.
Another name certain to be one of the main talking points this evening is former Villa player Leandro Bacuna who signed for Reading two days ago. Bacuna will be elligible to play tonight. Unless the clubs have reached some kind of agreement, he could find himself making his Reading debut against the side he played for on the opening day of the season.
With little changed on on the injury list from the weekend, there are unlikely to be big changes to Jaap Stam's squad this evening. Hopefully Jaap has some ideas of how to convert possession into goals this evening or the slow start may continue.
Prior to last April's 3-1 away win against Villa, when Mendes scored two goals and Grabban grabbed the other from the penalty spot, we had lost six consecutive games against them. One of those defeats was last season's 1-2 reverse at the Madejski Stadium when Kermorgant's equaliser wasn't enough for a point when Villa won with a last minute penalty. Following the Fulham game three days ago, that kind of defeat would be hard to take this evening. Improvement is definately required this evening.
| DATE | COMPETITION | OPPOSITION | SCORE | REPORT |
| 15 April 2017 | Championship | Aston Villa (Away) | W: 3-1 | Read report... |
| 18 October 2016 | Championship | Aston Villa (HOME) | L: 1-2 | Read report... |
| 09 March 2013 | Premier League | Aston Villa (HOME) | L: 1-2 | Read report... |
| 27 November 2012 | Premier League | Aston Villa (Away) | L: 0-1 | Read report... |
| 07 March 2010 | FA Cup | Aston Villa (HOME) | L: 2-4 | Read report... |
| 24 February 2008 | Premiership | Aston Villa (HOME) | L: 1-2 | Read report... |
| 12 January 2008 | Premiership | Aston Villa (Away) | L: 1-3 | Read report... |
| 10 February 2007 | Premiership | Aston Villa (HOME) | W: 2-0 | Read report... |
| 23 August 2006 | Premiership | Aston Villa (Away) | L: 1-2 | Read report... |
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