Bristol City vs Reading: Match Preview 2022/23

Reading begin a very important set of games at Ashton Gate this afternoon as they face midtable team Bristol City.

The hosts may be disappointed about the fact they were unable to capitalise on a good run of form earlier this year - but at least they are nowhere near the relegation zone going into the latter stages of the campaign.

Selling Antoine Semenyo in January, that could have lowered morale in the camp but they have shaken that off reasonably well and will be looking to enjoy a reasonably successful end to the season.

The Royals, meanwhile, will need to get as many points on the board between now and the end of this term to give themselves the best chance of survival.

It remains to be seen whether they can take anything away from this match though.

Ahead of kick-off, we have some facts and thoughts for you.

---

What? Championship Matchday 39

Season? 2022/23

Who? Bristol City

Where? Ashton Gate

When? Saturday 1st April

Time? 3pm

Opposition Manager? Nigel Pearson

---

Pre-Match Thoughts

Bristol City:

The Robins’ supporters haven’t had too much to get excited about in recent seasons - but have some young players who could potentially play in the Premier League in the future.

Alex Scott is one player who will probably end up in the top flight sooner rather than later - and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Tommy Conway follow at some point considering he’s already making an impact for the first team.

At 22, January signing Anis Mehmeti is another young player and he was very highly rated at Wycombe Wanderers, so it will be interesting to see how he does at Ashton Gate. If he can adapt well to the Championship and become one of the Robins’ key players, it may only be a matter of time before he attracts interest from elsewhere.

In terms of the future, they should have more to spend at some point after trying to “cut their cloth”. But whether their owner will be willing to spend remains to be seen - because it seems as though he’s open to selling the club.

Reading:

It would be nice to have some off-field stability for once but it doesn’t seem as though we’re going to get that anytime soon! The lack of communication again this season is unacceptable and at the time of writing, we’re still at risk of getting a points deduction.

The reason for that deduction may determine whether the supporters take further action or not. If we have broken our business plan, that’s simply unforgivable and would take the supporters’ anger to another level.

It will be important to know what rule(s) we broke and how badly we breached any limits before deciding on what to do next - because we will then have a clearer picture of what’s wrong at the club.

Until this becomes clearer, it’s difficult to know what message we need to send to the club.

Communication certainly needs to be improved - but what other messages need to be delivered remains to be seen.

---

The Last Meeting

Reading 2-0 Bristol City

---

My Lineup

Starting XI: Lumley, Guinness-Walker, Sarr, Holmes, Mbengue, Yiadom, Fornah, Casadei, Hendrick, Azeez, Joao

Joe Lumley starts in goal once more, with Naby Sarr, Tom Holmes and Amadou Mbengue making up the back three. I’m not too worried about that - because all three can be real assets when on top form.

Nesta Guinness-Walker and Andy Yiadom start at wing-back - and should be given the license to push quite high up to give us a bit more of an attacking threat in the final third.

In the absence of Mamadou Loum, Tyrese Fornah sits in a deep midfield role with Cesare Casadei and Jeff Hendrick in front of him.

Femi Azeez also starts in the absence of Tom Ince, with Lucas Joao up top.

This lineup looks defensive - but we can push forward with the likes of Guinness-Walker, Yiadom, Casadei and Hendrick, all of whom can make attacking contributions along with Azeez and Joao.

I’m not sure if we’ll be able to escape another defeat though.

Score Prediction: Bristol City 2-0 Reading

---

Elsewhere

Here are my predictions for this weekend’s other Championship games:

Today -

Luton Town 2-1 Watford

Preston North End 1-1 Blackpool

Birmingham City 0-2 Blackburn Rovers

Cardiff City 2-2 Swansea City

Coventry City 1-1 Stoke City

Huddersfield Town 1-2 Middlesbrough

Hull City 2-0 Rotherham United

Norwich City 2-1 Sheffield United

West Bromwich Albion 2-1 Millwall

Wigan Athletic 0-1 Queens Park Rangers