Reading FC Bookie Watch: Manchester Utd

Will it be the Theatre of dreams or the Theatre of screams for the 5,500 or so Reading fans making the trip up North to see us take on Manchester United in the Third Round of the FA Cup? If the oddsmakers are to be believed then it won't be a very happy trip home to Berkshire....

All odds are best available and taken from Oddschecker.com on Thursday.

Match Result

No surprise to see United as the overwhelming favourites to take this one at the first attempt. A £10 bet on a home win would only return you a profit of £2.35, not exactly tempting given the randomness of the Cup.

Reading are 14/1 to win on the day, reflecting their status as the underdogs here, in fact only two teams (Plymouth at Liverpool and Peterborough at Chelsea) have such lengthy odds. It might seem a distant long-shot but Leeds managed to win there 1-0 in 2010 while still a League One side, so these freak results do happen.

Yet if I had to put money on any of the three results, personally I'd be putting my 'cheeky fiver' on the draw. It's a result we've earned twice in our five recent trips to OT, so why not make it a hat-trick?

In terms of qualifying for the next round, our odds are halved to 7/1, with United 1/10.

Scoreline wise and Reading 1-0 and 2-1 are both 40/1 so if you are fancying us to win it would make sense to split your stake between those two scorelines as you'd effectively be betting at 20/1 rather than 14/1. That is unless we do something remarkable like win 2-0 or 3-1.....

Reading First Goalscorer

Again, few bookies are banking on us to score the first goal. Yann Kermorgant is 16/1 to nab the opener on Saturday alongside Denis Rakels who hasn't appeared since returning to training from his ankle knock. Given John Swift's set piece skills, I do like him at 25/1, while Liam Kelly at 50/1 with Bet365 is also tempting.

If you're a fan of 'Judas' betting and want to lump on a United player, some bloke named Ibrahimovic is 3/1, with Marcus Rashford 4/1 and England Captain Wayne Rooney at 5/1.

FA Cup Betting

We'll take a break from looking at our Championship odds for this week and stick to cup affairs, with Reading 250/1 to be lifting the trophy at Wembley in May. Manchester United are an 8/1 chance, with Chelsea favourites at 11/2 ahead of Liverpool and Manchester City.

If you fancy us to just reach the final, well that's also 250/1, the same odds as Oxford, Rotherham and Bolton.

That's your lot for this week, as always please gamble responsibly. #gambleaware