Nottingham Forest FC v Reading FC: Match Preview

Nottingham Forest FC

Form (all comps): LWLLD

Chris Cohen has returned to training, but is unlikely to be match fit for a few weeks following 14 months sidelined with the third serious knee injury of his career. Robert Tesche has returned to training following a broken foot, but is unlikely to be involved this weekend. Michael Mancienne returned to the bench at Brentford, following his knee injury, and will be pushing for a start on Saturday. Andy Reid (groin) is still working on his match fitness, Britt Assombalonga (knee) and Matty Fryatt (Achilles) will both miss the match up with Reading but Daniel Pinillos (knock) will likely be available..

Forest manager Dougie Freedman has vowed to make his team harder to beat following their defeat to Brentford last weekend. Saturday’s defeat was their third in five games and one that means they sit in 18th place in the table coming into this one. Despite their lowly position, Forest have one of the most frugal defences in the league, conceding just 18 goals in 17 matches so far this term. It seems goals at the other end are the problem for Forest scoring on 13 so far this season and in fact former Reading man Matt Mills is joint top-scorer with two goals to his name.

Reading FC

Form (all comps): WLDDL

Reading manager Steve Clarke is expected to name an unchanged side. Hal Robson-Kanu, Stephen Quinn and Aaron Tshibola remain out, but the squad is fully fit otherwise. Reading will look to build on their unconvincing win against Bolton last time out. Having Matej Vydra back from injury will be a boost for Steve Clarke as the Royals look to put their recent run of five games without a win firmly behind them. Reading’s last win at the City Ground came almost two years ago to the day (29 November 2013) when Jordan Obita got the winner for the visitors that day.

Nottingham Forest (v Brentford): D. de Vries, M. Mills, J. Hobbs, E. Lichaj, Dani Pinillos, L. Trotter (J. Williams 67), D. Vaughan, H. Lansbury, J. Ward, Ryan Mendes (D. Blackstock 68), Nelson Oliveira (T. Walker 87).

Reading (v Bolton):Ali Al-Habsi, A. Taylor, P. McShane, C. Gunter, M. Hector, G. McCleary (J. Cooper 79), D. Williams, O. Norwood, O. Sa, N. Blackman (M. Vydra 90+3), Lucas Piazon (J. Obita 68).

What The Opposition Think

By and large our performances have been nowhere near as bad as our league position might suggest, it's just that we haven't got anyone who can score any goals. Which, as keen and shrewd football observers will know, is something of a problem. Still, we're two points off the relegation places which is, quite clearly, Not Good. Dougie Freedman gets plenty of criticism, but I actually think he's doing a reasonable job under the circumstances.

Head To Head

Reading v Nottingham Forest: W:12 D:9 L:17

YouTube History

Prediction

Last Five Meetings

28 Feb 2015: Reading 0-3 Nottingham Forest (League Championship)

23 Aug 2014: Nottingham Forest 4-0 Reading (League Championship)

01 Jan 2014: Reading 1-1 Nottingham Forest (League Championship)

29 Nov 2013: Nottingham Forest 2-3 Reading (League Championship)

Nottingham Forest 1-1 Reading