Team news
Blues will be missing Liam Ridgewell and David Murphy through injury and Lee Bowyer through stupidity. Quedrue and Larsson are doubts.
Reading will be without James Harper, Glenn Little, Ivar Ingimarsson and Noel Hunt while Kevin Doyle may only be fit enough for the bench. Former Coventry man Jay Tabb may return to the starting line up.
Previous Meeting
Reading gained an easy 3-1 victory at St Andrews just before Christmas with goals from Noel Hunt, Doyle and Cisse. A very poor Blues team were well beaten on the day. The last game at the Madjeski was in last season’s Premiership where two set piece goals from Andre Bikey were our undoing.
Recent Form
Reading have won their last two games to bring themselves back into contention for automatic promotion but their home form has been very poor. They have not won at home since January and have picked up only two home points in their last six scoring just two goals in the process.
Blues have only lost one of their last six and their away form has recovered of late. They have scored only five goals in their last six away games.
Outlook
After 45 games it comes down to a simple equation, win and we are a Premier League team again. Unfortunately that was also the equation last week and we all know what happened then. A lot will depend on how well Blues bounce back from the Preston game and how Reading react to the pressure of expectation from their home crowd. We should expect Sheffield United to win at Palace simply because, all conspiracy theories aside, they are a better team. Our job is to make that game irrelevant.
So in the end it comes down to how much we really want it and how both sides handle the pressure. Blues have the experience in the team to get through this but do they have the quality. I really don’t know what is going to happen on Sunday, it’s almost impossible to predict. I hope we go out with a positive attitude and get a nice early goal but I expect that it will be a nerve shredding ninety minutes for all fans of the clubs involved. I couldn’t get a ticket so I will be sitting in front of my telly waiting for the commentator to say the words “There’s been a goal at Selhurst Park”…
Recent results point to a very tight game with few goals. Possibly a 0-0 draw with Sheffield United to sneak into the Premier League. I think it will be 1-0. To someone.
So for the last time this season (Hopefully).. COME ON YOU BLUE BOYS!!!
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