The Royals return to the Mad Stad from a thriller at Bolton to face Sheffield Wednesday who are sitting comfortably in 11^th place. Both sides last April were gripped in a tight battle for a play-off place and both would sadly lose to Huddersfield Town on penalties. Reading & Wednesday seek to move back into those coveted six positions by the end of the season and whoever wins will gain vital ground in achieving this.

Reading

Form (all competitions) - LWWLD

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John Swift is considered a huge doubt for the game after picking up what seems to be a hamstring strain at Bolton on Tuesday. He joins Garath McCleary, Joseph Mendes, George Evans and Callum Harriott in the treatment room. Joey van den Berg is back from suspension and Vito Mannone is expected to regain his number one status after missing the midweek game due to personal reasons. This means it will likely be another chop and change side from Jaap Stam.

Top Goal Scorer: Liam Kelly (4 in all competitions)

Sheffield Wednesday

Form (all competitions) - LWWDD form

Photo by Nathan Stirk/Getty Images

Carlos Carvalhal could name an unchanged side as Wednesday have no new injury or suspension worries following the midweek fixture list. Like Reading they had a mid-week draw (against Ipswich) so will hope to get back to winning ways and they climb up the table.

Top Goal Scorer: Gary Hooper (9 in all competitions)

What do the stats say?

• Reading haven’t been beaten in their last five league matches against Sheffield Wednesday (W3 D2).
• Sheffield Wednesday have lost six out of their last eight away matches against Reading (W1 D1).
• Gary Hooper has scored four goals in five previous league appearances against Reading.
• Sheffield Wednesday are unbeaten in five Championship fixtures (W2 D3).

How can I follow the game?

Audio coverage is on BBC Radio Berkshire (104.4 FM), but not available online. You can also listen on the EFL iFollow service but video coverage is only available to overseas fans. Full match highlights will be available on the app after the game

Reading Football Club will post highlights of the game on their respected social media pages and YouTube channel.

Prediction

Like Wolves last weekend this will be another tough test for Reading as they aim to climb back up the table. On their day, Sheffield Wednesday offer a dangerous threat going forward which could punish our troubled defence. However, the Royals have a good history against the Owls and will be view this as winnable unlike the Wolves game. Depending on the side Stam puts out we could play like we did against Nottingham Forest with slick flowing football, or fall short again to counter attacks like previous games. For this reason, the safe bet is probably to go with a draw. Reading 1-1 Sheffield Wednesday