Match Preview: Reading v Brentford

By Alex Bower

"Brentford have got a great team. They like to play football as well. They have quality players upfront, in midfield, well basically everywhere in their team. We've seen that if you give them time and let them play then they are going to make it very difficult for us."
- Reading FC Manager Jaap Stam

"We know this league is hard and that every team will make it difficult to get a win. There will be more surprises to come, so we need to concentrate and keep going. Tuesday is another game we'll be trying to win."
- Reading FC Striker Yann Kermorgant

While the Valentine's Day fixture is not ideal for some Reading FC fans, the Royals will take on Brentford FC on Tuesday evening. Reading will be hoping to improve on their 0-0 draw at the weekend against Barnsley while Brentford will want to bounce back from a 4-2 away defeat to Preston North End.

Jaap Stam's men will have been disappointed with what was their second draw on the bounce. The Royals are, however, still very much in the promotion race and currently sit fourth in the Championship table.

The continuing concern for Reading will be their defensive injuries. Paul McShane, Joey van den Berg and Tiago Ilori remain sidelined while Jordan Mutch may miss out again after picking up a knock. Brentford manager Dean Smith, meanwhile, has no new injury worries but will be without Rico Henry, Alan Judge and Lewis Macleod.

Reading will once more go into the game as favourites but, as the Barnsley result demonstrated, anything can happen in this league. Brentford also happen to be somewhat of a bogey team for the Royals, with the Bees winning five of their last seven league meetings with the Berkshire club.

Regardless of result, the game should have plenty of plenty of goals if history is anything to go on. Brentford won the reverse fixture 4-1 back in September and their six league games in 2017 have seen 25 goals scored (13 for and 12 against). If Reading can show signs of improvement on the attacking front and cope with the ever worsening surface, then this game could be theirs for the taking.

From the Discussion

SU Sutekh 13 Feb 2017 · 11:37am

https://kit.genesissports.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/1024px-Reading_FC.svg_-300x300.png http://soccerlogo.net/uploads/posts/2015-02/1424202784_fc-brentford.png Valentine's night sees Brentford come to town and one hopes that Reading will actually turn up for this one rather than the utter shambles of a team that took to the field at Griffin Park earlier this season. Brentford are not quite the same team that they were when they first hit the Championship a couple of season ago but are still more than capable of causing damage and are likely to be well organised under the auspices of manager Dean Smith. They currently reside…
CO CountryRoyal 13 Feb 2017 · 12:03pm

Gonna go for another lacklustre 0-0.
HO Hound 13 Feb 2017 · 12:16pm

I thought Brentford were the best time I've seen this season when we lost 4-1 there. But then they must be where they are in the table for a reason.
GE genome 13 Feb 2017 · 12:18pm

Bad feeling about this one... our recent record against Brentford is ruddy awful and they were excellent at Griffin Park (csb - I've been to two away games this season, Brentford 4-1 and Fulham 5-0 :lol: ) 2-1 Brentford and belmonts abound on the Team board.
BC bcubed 13 Feb 2017 · 12:59pm

Gonna go for another lacklustre 0-0. I tend to agree with you but at least it should be a bit warmer
JS John Smith 13 Feb 2017 · 5:12pm

I thought Brentford were the best time I've seen this season when we lost 4-1 there. But then they must be where they are in the table for a reason. Yes I agree. Well they've lost Hogan but they've still got Sawyers and a few other useful lads. I'm going to go with us to nick it 2-1 after going a goal down, and a Brentford red card to turn the tide
RJ Royal_jimmy 13 Feb 2017 · 5:23pm

I have a bad feeling about this one 1-0 defeat
EM Emeraldroyal 13 Feb 2017 · 5:38pm

Tough one to call. We're at home so need to dictate the pace of the game to them. This hasn't happened of late and we've ended up chasing games and nicking draws or the usual mass possession with little penetration. If the likes of Kelly / Gmac / swift pull the strings and express themselves a bit, we'll win. If they don't then fuck knows what will happen. I'll go 2-1 Reading. Kelly and Gmac and yet another backheel involved at some point 8) Happy Valentines :oops:

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