Bookie Watch: Cardiff City v Reading FC

This Saturday sees the return of the FA Cup for Reading (3.10) as they travel across the Severn Bridge and into Wales to face Cardiff City (2.50), who they lost 2-1 to back in November.

Following a loss last weekend, Steve Clarke will be hoping that his side can get back to winning ways and fire themselves into the hat for the fifth round. Russell Slade has had an up-and-down time since arriving from Leyton Orient, and Cardiff have hit a tough run of form of late. Only one win in their last eight league games is a poor run that stretches back to the start of December. However, they have been strong at home, winning eight of their 13 games so far at the Cardiff City Stadium. With Cardiff losing just once to Reading in the past 12 meetings (The infamous 0-3 playoff match!), the hosts will fancy their chances.

Ex-Reading player Adam Le Fondre will also fancy his chances of scoring against his former club, however he has struggled so far, with only 3 league goals to his name (Morrison has 4!). I think Alex Revell, the new Cardiff striker however will be the one to watch this weekend, having bagged his first goal in the loss against Norwich, he'll be keen to get off to a strong start at home. First goalscorer available at 7.00.

A repeat of the score from November (2-1), would be a worth a look for the game. Reading have had a number of impressive performances so far, however this may be one step too far if Clarke attempts to try and rotate his players to regain his squad's fitness levels (10.00). Another scoreline worth looking at is Cardiff to win 3-1 (21.00). Reading have played extremely well in the past few games, however both Boro and Norwich managed plenty of chances against the Royals, and if Federici is rested, we may not get the same heroics in goal.

Recommended bets:

1) Cardiff to win 2-1 @ 10.00 - Cardiff are strong scorers at home, having scored two goals at home six times this season so far, I can see them doing so again this weekend vs. a Reading side who may rotate players such as Anton Ferdinand and Mikkel Andersen into the line-up.

2) Alex Revell FGS @ 7.00 - Short odds, but I think he will become the man Slade looks to going forward. Despite City spending big in the summer on strikers, having Slade bring in his own player shows he is still looking towards a different direction, and Revell has a good chance of being the key striker for Cardiff this weekend.

3) Morrison AGS @ 8.00 - Dependant upon whether he starts, Morrison will be a key threat against Reading, who have struggled against crosses into the box this season and at set pieces. As we know, "Morro" is deadly in the air in the opposition box, and having bagged 4 league goals this season, 8.00 represents a small chunk of value for AGS this weekend against a Reading side who can be seen as weak in the air.

Unfortunately last weekend we struggled with the matchup against Fulham as they won 2-1, leaving our bets in tatters. However, Reading did look the more dominant side throughout, but were just unable to A) Keep a clean sheet and B) Win! (I know, both important factors, however I hope that readers of the page can see that the game flow matched the predictions here from Bookie watch, even if the bets didn't win!)

As always, good luck to anyone having a bet this weekend, and we'll be back early next week for our trip down to The Den in South London for a big clash against Millwall.

Come on URZ!