Fulham vs Reading: Match Preview

Fulham FC vs Reading FC, EFL Championship

Craven Cottage, 7:45pm KO

Reading will make the short trip over to West London on Tuesday night to take on a Fulham side unbeaten in 19 league matches. The Whites are rampaging towards the automatic promotion places and could end the night in the top two should results elsewhere go in favour of the hosts. Reading will be having flashbacks of last season’s 5-0 defeat at Craven Cottage but will hope to capitalise on any potential complacency coming from the hosts.

Fulham

Form (league): W/D/W/W/W

Slavisa Jokanovic has just one injury concern heading into this Championship fixture, with former Reading loanee Lucas Piazon a doubt after missing the trip to Hillsborough on the weekend with a knock.

Elsewhere, the Serb has a selection dilemma out wide, with Floyd Ayite and Sheyi Ojo both tussling for a starting berth here, although it is the former who remains most likely to feature from the off here.

Reading FC

Form (league): L/L/W/L/W

Dave Edwards will return to contention here after missing Saturday’s 1-0 win over Preston through suspension. However, the experienced midfielder faces competition from George Evans, Liam Kelly, John Swift and Leandro Bacuna for a spot in the starting X11.

Joseph Mendes is now fully fit again but remains unlikely to feature, while Callum Harriott continues to rebuild his fitness with the under 23s. Centre-back pairing Tommy Elphick and Paul McShane will also miss out, whilst Jordan Obita and Garath McCleary are out for the rest of the season.

Left-back Tyler Blackett was absent from the matchday squad on the weekend due to a minor knock, so Omar Richards could be given the nod for the trip to Craven Cottage.

Head to Head

Fulham: 20

Draw: 16

Reading: 18

Past 5 Meetings

03 December 2016: Fulham 5-0 Reading (EFL Championship)

24 January 2017: Reading 1-0 Fulham (EFL Championship)

13 May 2017: Fulham 1-1 Reading (EFL Championship Play-Off Semi-Final)

16 May 2017: Reading 1-0 Fulham (EFL Championship Play-Off Semi-Final)

12 August 2017: Reading 1-1 Fulham (EFL Championship)

Prediction

Paul Clement has enjoyed an excellent start to life as Reading manager and back-to-back 1-0 home victories have helped eased fears of relegation, however, the Royals struggled when pitted against a more attacking Aston Villa side last week and are likely to struggle again here against arguably the division’s most dangerous attacking force. Tiago Ilori and Liam Moore will need to emulate their performance against Preston in order to deal with Aleksandar Mitrovic here. 2-0.