Birmingham City v Reading FC: Bookie Watch

Recent Form

Reading came back to earth with a bump last weekend, with a home draw to a Bolton side who were lacklustre throughout. The 0-0 did give us a winning bet from my recommended bets, with the draw and U2.5 goals bet coming in at 4.6.

This weekend Reading travel to the Midlands to face another team in the lower half of the table, Birmingham City. The Blues have struggled at home now for 18 months, with only three wins this season so far at St Andrew's, and only nine goals in ten matches.

Reading of course have been struggling to score as well away from home, barring the Norwich away win, with five goals in their last six away from home. Reading have not managed to win by more than one goal away from home this season, and I think this trend may continue this weekend. A repeat of the 2-1 scoreline from the Royals' last away game is 11.50.

The Reading Bolton clash showed how important set pieces will be to Nigel Adkins' team if they are able to win games, with both Jake Cooper and Michael Hector going close to getting the opening goal. They should continue to deputise this weekend, with the absence of Anton Ferdinand and Alex Pearce out of form, and I like the look of Cooper to get his third goal this weekend at 15.00 anytime goalscorer.

This game could once again be described as mustn't lose for Reading, and I think we could see a mirror game of the Bolton match. Therefore looking at the total goals market, backing 0 or 1 goals in the match at 3.90 may be worth taking, especially given the impotence of Birmingham up front, and Reading's inability to create chances.

Recommended Bets

1. Jake Cooper to score first @ 41.00 - Cooper almost scored last weekend from a set piece, and scored twice the weekend before. Since his inclusion in the side, Reading's corners have caused chaos in the opposition box.
2. Total Goals Under 1.5 @ 3.90 - Reading have struggled massively to get goals away from home this season, but despite the defensive frailties of this side, they have tightened up at the back. In the past three games the Royals have only conceded three times, with one of those being a penalty. However, this has led the team to struggle to create chances, and one goal could settle this game either way this weekend.

Fantasy Bet League

Nobody managed to get the correct scoreline last weekend, and so Westy currently sits on £180 and the rest of currently are stuck at -£20 each having not hit a correct scoreline so far.

• Wimb: 1-1 Draw 7.50
  
• Williams: 2-1 Reading 11.50
  
• Westy: 1-0 Reading 11.00
  
• Myself: 0-0 Draw 13.00
  

Good luck to anyone having a bet this weekend, and come on URZ!

All odds are available as of 13:41 11th December 2014. Please gamble responsibly and head to Gamble Aware for support.