The Championship's only remaining 100% home record will be put to the test against an unbeaten away record when Reading host Preston North End at the Madejski Stadium on Wednesday night.
Preston are coming off the back of two home defeats, the latest of which came against Birmingham City at the weekend, while Reading suffered their first defeat of the season at the hands of Coventry City on Friday night.
Match preview
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Reading were brought back down to earth with a bump on Friday as they found themselves 3-1 down to newly-promoted Coventry City and, despite a late consolation goal to make it 3-2, they were unable to find a way to snatch a draw.
That was Reading's first loss of the season, in what has otherwise been a near-perfect campaign, boasting seven wins from nine games and a points tally of 22.
Reading are still four points clear of Swansea City in second place, and will look to put the recent loss behind them and get back to winning ways at the Madejski on Wednesday night.
Preston are the first of two home fixtures for Reading, as they then welcome a Stoke City side that sit on the fringes of the playoff places.
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Preston's woeful home form continued on the weekend as they lost out to Birmingham City after conceding late on in the match through substitute Gary Gardner's strike.
In a strange run of results, Preston find themselves second bottom of the home form table having lost all five games at Deepdale this season, scoring only one goal in that time.
Yet, they are top for away form, having only drawn once amongst three wins, and will fancy their chances of getting a result against the Royals having already turned over the likes of Brentford and Derby County.
Preston now sit 16th in the table, with 10 points form nine games, and will be hoping they can better that total before the international break.
Reading Championship form: WDWWWL
Preston North End Championship form: WWLWLL
Team News
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Sone Aluko could find himself back in the starting lineup after making an impact off the bench on the weekend. Yakou Meite was unavailable for the fixture in midweek, and the Royals could again be without their second-highest goalscorer.
Veljko Paunovic will be sweating on the fitness of club captain Liam Moore after he came off injured against the Sky Blues.
Paunovic will also be hopeful of having Ovie Ejaria back after the midfielder missed the last two games through muscle fatigue.
After failing to make the starting XI in their last two games, there could be a recall for Ben Davies, with Jordan Storey likely to make way.
Scott Sinclair could also be handed a starting berth after missing out against Birmingham City.
Reading possible starting lineup:
Cabral; Esteves, Morrison, Moore, Richards; Rinomhota, Laurent; Meite, Semedo, Olise; Joao
Preston North End possible starting lineup:
Rudd; Fisher, Bauer, Davies, Hughes; Browne, Ledson; Sinclair, Johnson, Potts; Jakobsen
We say: Reading 2-1 Preston North End
Reading have been untouchable at home this season, but away-specialists Preston are likely to pose a real test for the Royals. We see a closely-fought match, but with Reading's attacking capabilities in mind, we see them coming out on top to retain their 100% home record.
Top betting tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting over 1.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Over 1.5:dataData Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Preston North End win with a probability of 45.92%. A win for Reading had a probability of 27.97% and a draw had a probability of 26.1%.
The most likely scoreline for a Preston North End win was 0-1 with a probability of 11.44%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (9.1%) and 0-2 (8.39%). The likeliest Reading win was 1-0 (8.46%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.4%). The actual scoreline of 0-3 was predicted with a 4.1% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Preston North End would win this match.
