The Championship weekend kicks off on Friday night when two of the sides in the top six in the table battle it out at the Madejski Stadium when early pacesetters Reading go up against Bournemouth as the race for the Premier League begins to intensify.
Both these teams have dropped away from the leaders Norwich City so they will think it is imperative that they hang close to second spot in the table. That means a win here is vital for both teams in that quest.
Where to watch
The match will be screened across the Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football channels with the show beginning at 7.30pm and the match itself kicking off at 8pm.
Reading
The first half of the season has been one of three different thirds. They were brilliant to start the campaign off and set quite a trail at the top of the table. Then came a mixed run of results where they lost seven out of 12 matches and now they are back on a healthy unbeaten run and looking up again. The bad spell could have been a number of things but given the games came thick and fast their lack of squad depth might have been a significant factor.
What Reading have shown this season is that when they are fresh and firing they are a match for most in the Championship so the relatively comfortable schedule the division has had throughout January will certainly have helped. We saw shades of that in the draw at Preston last week where they were the better side for long periods and would have won but for a missed penalty. Reading are starting to look good at both ends of the pitch again which bodes well for them.
Bournemouth
Given the expectation on them you would have to suggest that Bournemouth are starting to come under a little bit of pressure now. They have slipped all the way down to sixth in the table and with Norwich looking like they have galloped away from the Cherries, the Dorset based side may already only be playing for second place. That is already below what they would have been aiming for when the season began and a negative result here could lead them needing something special to achieve that.
The recent drop off has come about from a run of one win in six matches. That in itself is an issue but when you consider the talent they have in attacking areas and the money that unit are worth, the fact they have only scored four goals in their last seven Championship outings has to be a real concern. They simply have to find more goals if they are going to make an immediate return to the Premier League at the end of the season.
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Team News
Reading are hoping that star man Michael Olise will be fit to take his place in the side having been on the bench last weekend. The Royals could also have Yakou Meite and Andy Yiadom back as their injury issues begin to clear up a little.
Junior Stanislas may come into the thinking of the Bournemouth boss Jason Tindall after he has recovered from an injury but the Cherries could be without Chris Mepham. Jack Wilshere will be hoping his goal in midweek leads him into the starting XI for this one.
Betting
I’ve seen both these sides a fair bit recently as my team Luton have played them both twice in the last five weeks. I have to say it is Reading who have impressed me the most from these two teams and I think with the form of the two sides they are the team to be on here. It might be that the midweek cup win for Bournemouth perks them up a little bit but there wasn’t a whole lot that was convincing about it and the three day turnaround isn’t particularly inspiring either.
Reading look an organised outfit under Veljko Paunovic in much the same way his Chicago Fire team were but unlike that MLS unit, the Serbian coach has a dynamic attack with the creative spark of Michael Olise a perfect foil to the pace and quality that is around and in front of him. Reading have suddenly stopped shipping goals again and Bournemouth are struggling to score them. That makes me think the hosts can find a result of some kind here.
Tips
WON – Back Reading (+0.25AH) to beat Bournemouth for a 3/10 stake at 1.96 with Bet365
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