When : Thursday January 1 2026, 3pm
Where : Madejski Stadium, Reading, RG2 0FL
Capacity : 24,161
Burton Albion arrive in Reading next for another game that subscribers to Sky Sports can watch on the telly just like on Boxing Day .
This is the final club that Reading play in the league for the first time this season and Burton will be extremely difficult opponents as despite again experiencing their habitual struggle at the bottom of the table they are very adept at picking up 3 points in games where you’d say they have absolutely no chance (this season has already seen them collect 3 points at both Cardiff and Bradford) so just turning up is clearly not going to be good enough, Leam & co. will therefore have to have prepared properly and made sure the players are very much in the right frame of mind.
The Brewers are on a run of 2 draws and a win from their last 4 league games so another team that’s been on a bit of a decent run to try and better. One thing that might help Reading though is that Burton are closing in on a winnable FA Cup tie at Boreham Wood therefore there might be a bit of a distraction in some of their player’s minds.
Forwards Jake Beesley and Tyrese Shade provide the majority of Brewer threat with 12 goals between them, they also have the usual ex-Reading connection that seems to surface most weeks in this division, this time it’s George Evans who could prove to be a bit of a pain toward the Reading gameplan.
Hoping that Reading will see the return of Lane and WiFi to the squad to give more options as the transfer window only opens on this day so really zero options for any new arrivals to suddenly appear in time, but they’ll be needed to minimise the management thinking they can implement another Peterborough style game plan.
Referee
Tom Reeves
Previously...
20 Aug 25 > Bolton Wanderers 1-1 Reading
20 Jan 24 > Wigan Athletic 1-0 Reading
23 Sep 23 > Blackpool 4-1 Reading
Historically
Reading have played 4 league games at home to Burton and have a record of 2 wins and a draw to show for things so far. It’s also a case of back to the drawing board as both of last season’s match winners against the Brewers (Sam Smith & Chem Campbell) have moved on
How to follow the game
- Get a ticket and travel to the game
- Sky+/NOW
- Listen to Radio 5 Live and/or a myriad of other radio stations for score flashes
- Ring/text a mate for updates
- Use an RoyalsTV subscription
- BBC Radio Berkshire (FM : 104.4, 104.1 or 95.4 depending where you are in the area)
