When : Wednesday 1st January, 3pm
Where : Craven Cottage, Stevenage Road, London, SW6 6HH
Capacity : 19,000
Away Stand : One side of the Putney End Stand on the riverside of the ground
What might I see in the area : nowhere to park
First game of the new decade sees Reading thrown into the ring against a more than useful Fulham for what we all expect to be a game about as hard as you can get in this division.
Though Fulham are one of the better teams in the division they are on a bit of a "quiet" run currently having managed just 2 wins and a draw in their last 6 games however they are actually unbeaten in three (including a home win v Leeds) which is probably how their supporters would look at it.
Cairney (6 goals) and Mitrovic (18 goals ) are the ones that desperately need to be shackled and Arter will also need to be stopped. If that can be managed successfully then there will be a chance for Reading to get something
Mitrovic is subject to transfer speculation from Villa so there is always a chance he might not be risked or not quite fully on his game, Arter has been injured (so that may explain some of the loss in form for Fulham recently), though may make a return for this game. Reading may have Baldock available again but Yiadom and Puscas will still be absent. Additionally Mannone and Aluko will both presumably be eligible following the opening of the transfer window, however I think we'd all be amazed if they were involved.
Referee
Geoff Eltringham
Previously
26 Oct 19 > Nottingham Forest P-P Reading
02 Feb 19 > Reading 0-0 Aston Villa
29 Sep 18 > Brentford 2-2 Reading
03 Feb 18 > Reading 0-2 Millwall
22 Apr 17 > Nottingham Forest 3-2 Reading
17 Mar 17 > Sheffield Wednesday 0-2 Reading
04 Feb 17 > Ipswich Town 2-2 Reading
13 Dec 16 > Leeds United 2-0 Reading
02 Apr 16 > Bolton Wanderers 0-1 Reading
12 Dec 15 > Preston North End 1-0 Reading
07 Apr 15 > Blackpool 1-1 Reading
23 Nov 13 > Blackburn Rovers 0-0 Reading
14 Feb 12 > Derby County 0-1 Reading
Historically
In the league this is the twenty second season Reading have shared with Fulham, it may seem like more to many people as most of those games have been since 1980. From those 43 games Fulham have managed more victories than Reading (18 games to 15). In the 21 previous league visits to the Cottage the record is not terribly impressive with 5 wins, 5 draws and 11 defeats. Reading have also failed to score on either of the last two league visits and conceded 6 in those two games so something there to improve on.
New Year's Day games haven't been great for Reading recently with 0 wins from 5 attempts. The last win was the famous 6-0 v the Hammers way back in 2007.
How to follow the game
- Get a ticket and travel
- Listen to Radio 5 Live and/or a myriad of other radio stations for score flashes
- Ring/text a mate for updates
- Use an iFollow subscription (presuming you can get the commentary working at all)
- BBC Radio Berkshire (FM : 104.4, 104.1 or 95.4 depending where you are in the area)