Cardiff City v Reading FC: Match Preview

Cardiff City

Form (all comps): LDDWD

Defender Fabio da Silva is out for six weeks after damaging ligaments in his right foot during the Bluebirds' fixture against Ipswich Town last weekend. Fabio joins Bruno Manga, Federico Macheda and Ben Turner on the long-term injury list, while Peter Whittingham is suspended after a fifth booking of the season.

Cardiff City like their opponents on Saturday have won just once in their last five games. Where as Reading’s triumph was a home victory over Charlton, the Bluebirds got the better of fourth placed Middlesbrough at the Cardiff City Stadium.

Four players will be making appearances against their former club including Cardiff defensive duo Matthew Connolly and Sean Morrison, and Reading full-backs Chris Gunter and Andrew Taylor.

Reading

Form (all comps): DDLDW

Reading could be without seven key players for the trip to South Wales. On top of long-term absentees Stephen Quinn, Hal Robson-Kanu and Aaron Tshibola, Steve Clarke could be without four other first-team player but he opted not to name names before the game.

Reading failed to win for the fourth game in succession, banishing all memory of the early season form of seven wins in nine games, when they stumbled to a 2-2 draw against 18th placed Huddersfield at the Madejski Stadium on Tuesday night. In fact Huddersfield were so embarrassed by the result that they sacked manager Chris Powell the day after the game.

A beacon of hope was that Reading again came from behind to salvage a draw but they will have to start turning come-back draws into come-back wins or, ideally, just outright wins if they are to begin challenging the top-six again. Tuesday’s result means the Royals sit in seventh position, one point off sixth going into Saturday’s game against Cardiff. Reading’s last win in the Welsh capital came in 2011, in a 3-0 victory, thanks to a Shane Long brace and a Jobi McAnuff strike.

Lineups From Last Game

Cardiff (v Leeds): D. Marshall, L. Peltier, M. Connolly, S. Morrison, S. Malone, P. Whittingham (A. Pilkington 78), A. Gunnarsson, C. Noone (Sammy Ameobi 60), J. Ralls, A. Revell (K. Jones 69), J. Mason.

Reading (v Huddersfield): A. Al-Habsi, C. Gunter, A. Ferdinand, P.McShane, J. Obita, G. McCleary (O. Sa 46), D. Williams (O. John 74), O. Norwood, Lucas Piazon (Alex 46), N. Blackman, M. Vydra.

What The Opposition Think

The fear for many heading into the new campaign was that the boring football on offer last season would continue into this one, which has very much been the case. Russell Slade has certainly made us tough to beat, underlined by four losses all term, but the style of play has resulted in many simply failing to turn up for home games.

Last Five Meetings

04 Apr 2015: Reading 1-1 Cardiff City (Championship)

24 Jan 2015: Cardiff City 1-2 Reading (FA Cup)

21 Nov 2014: Cardiff City 2-1 Reading (Championship)

02 Jan 2012: Cardiff City 3-1 Reading (Championship)

19 Nov 2011: Reading 1-2 Cardiff City (Championship)

Head To Head

Reading v Cardiff: W:22 D:18 L:22

Prediction

Cardiff City 2-2 Reading