When : Saturday 19th September 2020, 3pm
Where : Madejski Stadium, Reading, RG2 0FL
Capacity : 24,161
Saturday sees Barnsley head in to town. The good news is that this is the one home league fixture that Reading have played this year and managed to win Yes, that 2-0 win back on 29th February is the one moment of league success amongst 11 mostly miserable attempts. It is also the only game in that run in which Reading scored more than once in a total of 8 scored and 18 conceded. Let's hoe it's not another 4 years until Reading see another home league win!
Though it maybe Barnsley, as we know Reading usually aren't very good with potential banana skins, remember the Barnsley home fixture back in 2011, beaten at home 2-1 and missed three penalties, therefore there is nothing that should be taken for granted even after a good performance and return on the opening day at Derby. But then that was the season Reading went up so perhaps we should all be hoping for something similar...
Barnsley are what they usually are, a strong tip for relegation, but past experience usually shows they are up for a fight and I'm expected a well drilled, organised defensive opponent to heave into view so Reading will more than likely need all the creative players to be bang on form. And we are still in the opening stages when freak results happen more often, so it's down to the club to prove that the freak result was NOT at Derby last week.
Bit of an 'iffy' start for Barnsley so far. After beating Forest in the first round of the league cup to set up a trip to Middlesbrough, the Tykes went down 1-0 at home to Luton on the opening day, on top of that there is talk that the club are looking to relocate away from Oakwell, Barnsley's home for 133 years, after a row with the local council over the purchase of the ground.
Reading expect to have Yakou Meite available after he completed his 3 match ban against Luton. In addition new signings are promised before the end of the window with, currently, defensive midfielder Alfa Semedo being the most likely addition before Saturday (there that should ensure a host of new faces, none of whom will be Semedo, arriving on Friday).
Referee
Mr Tim "1 league point for Reading out of 18 (but that was the last time out)" Robinson
Previously
18 Jul 20 > Blackburn Rovers 3-3 Reading
07 Dec 19 > Reading 2-3 Birmingham City
06 Apr 19 > Hull City 3-1 Reading
01 Jan 19 > Reading 1-4 Swansea City
19 Sep 18 > Reading 1-2 Norwich City
16 Jan 18 > Reading 3-0 Stevenage (FA Cup 3)
30 Sep 17 > Reading 1-2 Norwich City
29 Apr 17 > Reading 1-0 Wigan Athletic
01 Oct 16 > Reading 1-1 Derby County
02 Feb 16 > Ipswich Town 2-1 Reading
21 Sep 13 > Derby County 1-3 Reading
Historically
Recently Barnsley have had an annoying habit of turning up, being dour, and going home with 3 points.
Overall though this game is the Tykes' 36th league trip to Reading and they've only won 6 of the previous 34 games in total compared to Reading's 19 victories. Of the 10 league draws in Reading, a whopping 8 of them have finished 0-0.
But 3 of those 6 Barnsley wins have been in the last 6 games played.
How to follow the game
- 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
- BBC Radio Berkshire (FM : 104.4, 104.1 or 95.4 depending where you are in the area)