Reading FC Bookie Watch: Wigan Athletic

With our regular oddscaster unavailable for a while, you're stuck with me again to guide you through the best & worst of the odds available for Reading's trip to Wigan on Saturday. All odds are taken from Oddschecker on Thursday morning.

Match Result

Let's start with the overall odds and despite being 22nd in the table, Wigan are the favourites to pick up the win at the DW Stadium. You can get a best price of 6/4 with SkyBet & Will Hill for the Latics to pick up all three points, though most of the bookies are going with a slightly shorter price of 7/5.

As for Reading, they're floating around the 2/1 mark with most of the oddsmen, not too shabby for a team that's picked up three away wins in seven league games so far this season, not to mention a cup win at Brighton.

If you see this one as being a draw, you can get around 11/5, making it the least probable result according to the money men.

First Goalscorer

It's a Wigan dominated market, led by.....

The man on fire is as short as 4/1 to score the first goal on Saturday, though others have him out at 5's, the same number as the total Championship goals he's scored this season. He's not found the net in five and has just one in his last nine games, so he's probably due a goal...

Elsewhere and the second favourite needs little introduction to Reading fans, Adam Le Fondre. Alfie is 13/2 to notch first but so far he's managed just one goal in six appearances for the club and he's made just two league starts so far. Curse of the ex + new manager might look appealling but before the lineup is announced I wouldn't be taking those odds.

On the Reading side, and despite only three goals this season, Yann Kermorgant leads the way at 7/1, with Dominic Samuel rather lazily put in at odds of 8/1 by the bookies who've clearly not been paying much attention. Samuel has been nowhere near the starting lineup and has struggled to get off the bench in the League so unless there's an injury crisis, again I'm not going near those odds.

The three names that stick out from Reading betting perspective are Garath McCleary who is a slightly generous 11/1 with Bet365 and his penalty taking amigo Danny Williams, who is a whopping 22/1 with PaddyPower, but 9-11/1ish elsewhere. Yet with both missing their previous spot-kicks could John Swift's odds of 14/1 again with PP represent good value?

For wildcard purposes, Nick Powell at 12/1 looks nice for Wigan, while Joey van den Berg's 25/1 also looks tasty. If you think Chris Gunter can make it 2 in 2, he's 50/1.

Other Bets

Reading haven't won away from home by more than a clear goal since September 2015, so Reading to win by one goal at 7/2 isn't bad money, while a Reading 1-0 at 8/1 also seems pretty generous.

Elsewhere and Reading to be leading at half-time but losing at full-time is a 33/1 chance, and a stirring comeback under a new manager isn't the most far-fetched of ideas. Likewise, Reading to earn a third 4-1 humping of the campaign is at 66-1.

Championship Betting

Reading's fifth place standing has been noticed by the bookies and the odds of us finishing in the top six are now down to as low as 7/4 with some bookmakers and the best you can get today is 3/1. Personally I'm still not convinced there's great value there, especially coming off the back of softish games with Rotherham and Nottingham Forest. A win over Wigan wouldn't do much to enhance those odds so my advice would be to wait until the next defeat. Likewise, promotion at 12/1 also doesn't seem of much value, other than a sneaky fiver.

If you fancy us to overhaul Newcastle and win the league somehow, well now is a good a time to bet as any, as we're 150/1 with Unibet. That may well seem outlandish but the odds were roughly the same at this time in 2011 and we know what happened next....

Finally, if you're a glass half empty sort, our odds to be relegated are as long as 55/1.

So that's your lot for today, as always please do gamble responsibly #gambleaware.