Reading FC Are Experts At Bouncing Back From Midweek Games

The Royals travel to Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday evening to contest a massive promotion clash in the Championship but Reading have one stat in their locker that should give the away fans some extra confidence.

Defeat at Huddersfield last time out marked Jaap Stam's 11th defeat of the season, with a rather large seven coming in midweek encounters. The promise, comes in how his side have responded to those defeats.

Only once all season have Reading lost after playing a midweek fixture, and that came way back in August with the 2-0 defeat to Wolves that followed the Capital One Cup match with Plymouth. The three other Saturday afternoon defeats (against Fulham, Manchester United, and Derby) all came following free weeks.

In total, the Royals have played within four days of a midweek fixture on 12 occasions in 2016/17, winning eight and drawing three times (Brighton home, Derby home, and Ipswich away) with the lone, aforementioned defeat.

Overall, it's clear that Reading are far better at 15:00 on a Saturday (or closest equivalent) than on a cold Tuesday night up north, where they've lost to Leeds, Huddersfield, and Newcastle, but their ability to bounce back is solid.

Without a post-midweek game defeat in well over five months, let's hope Stam's men can take this form to the Amex Stadium.