Reading striker Jon Dadi Bodvarsson has called upon his teammates to aim for a top-six finish in the Championship this season.

The Icelandic international said that the Royals want to put last season's woes behind them, as they narrowly escaped relegation to League One with a 20th-place finish in the second tier.

Speaking ahead of tonight's curtain raiser at the Madejski Stadium against Frank Lampard's Derby County, the former Wolves forward admitted that there was a lack of leadership in the previous campaign.

"I feel like the top six is the ambition for this year," said the 25-year old. "Last year was very poor in terms of Reading's standards. We were not compact and a bit out of shape a few too many times. The confidence goes lower and there was a lack of leadership.

"They were a few of the main things that went wrong last season. I hope we have a clean slate now – from the first game to the last, we have to be more consistent."

Reading's game with the Rams kicks off at 8pm tonight.