News and Views
Loan Signings To Feature In Easter Fixtures
02 April 2015
By Hob Nob Anyone?
Reading's new loan signings will be hoping to feature as the Royals get back to business of Championship survival with two matches over Easter. First Cardiff City visit the Madejski on Saturday before Reading travel to Blackpool on Tuesday night. With just one win out out our last six League games, Steve Clarke will be hoping that Chelsea's Nathan Ake and Crystal Palace forward Kwesi Appiah can have an impact in the Championship as Reading still need points to guarantee staying up.
Both Ake and Appiah arrived last week on loan as Danny Guthrie and Jake Taylor left the club to try their luck elsewhere on loan. Clarke hasn't been scared to shuffle his squad around in recent months to accomodate a run in the FA Cup and a congested fixture list, and is very likely to use his new players against either Cardiff or Blackpool or both. Meanwhile Nathaniel Chalobah and Simon Cox are both set to miss out due to injury.
On paper both games are winnable with Cardiff 14th in the table and Blackpool rock bottom in 24th. Cardiff already have to face up to having nothing left to play for with both the play-offs and the relegation zone an equal 16 points away from them. Mid-table is a certainty for the Welsh side, however that hasn't stopped them picking up some impressive results recently drawing with Bournemouth and beating Birminham and play-off contenders Brentford in their last three matches.
There's nothing impressive about Blackpool's performances all season long. Blackpool are already a staggering seventeen points adrift and are relegated except for the maths. Blackpool's form is shocking - they haven't won since the end of January and have picked up just 3 points from 11 games since then. They have also only managed to score a single goal in their last five games.
Earlier this season Blackpool were on the end of a convincing Reading win at the Madejski when Murray and Blackman scored in a 3-0 win, under the leadership of Nigel Adkins, that also included an own goal. Really, if Reading can't move clear of the bottom three over the next week then they probably deserve to be considered as relegation candidates. Two wins for the Royals could see us move up as high as 15th in the table and would effectively ensure survival with plenty of games still to play.
| Reading and Cardiff - Head to head record (since August 1994) | |
| Games Between Reading and Cardiff | 25 |
| Reading Wins | 7 |
| Cardiff Wins | 9 |
| Draws | 9 |
| Reading Goals | 36 |
| Cardiff Goals | 34 |
| Average Goals Per Game | 2.8 |
| Reading and Blackpool - Head to head record (since August 1994) | |
| Games Between Reading and Blackpool | 15 |
| Reading Wins | 8 |
| Blackpool Wins | 4 |
| Draws | 3 |
| Reading Goals | 25 |
| Blackpool Goals | 13 |
| Average Goals Per Game | 2.53 |
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