City Next For Royals

The Royals travel to Manchester City on Saturday aiming to extend a six-game unbeaten run against a City side who’ve had a mixed bag of results in recent weeks.

Steve Coppell will give a late fitness test to Shane Long and must decide whether to give debuts to new signings Michael Duberry and Greg Halford.

City boss Stuart Pearce has a few injury problems but may include his recent signing from PSV Michael Ball at left back.

But Pearce will definitely be missing Nedum Onuoha (knee) and Trevor Sinclair (groin), who are still injured.

Ivar Ingimarsson’s first half header seperated the two sides in an entertaining encounter at the Madejski Stadium back in September.

Vital Quotes:

‘There is no feeling here of being in a strong position. We’re finding our feet and we need the reassurance of more points.

Manchester City have a good home record and it is sure to be a big test for us.

‘I think it will be a hugely difficult game for us.’

Manchester City Team News:

Man City (from): Weaver, Isaksson, Richards, Dunne, Distin, Trabelsi, Jordan, Ball, Ireland, Dabo, Vassell, Corradi, Miller, Beasley, Samaras, Johnson, Barton, Hamann, Sun, Abdoun.

Player to watch: Joey Barton

With a smile on his face fresh from his recent call-up into the England squad, City midfielder Barton will be looking to justify his first international cap. He is by far City’s most influencial player, and is forming a decent partnership with Stephen Ireland in the centre of the park.

Reading Team News:

Reading (from): Hahnemann, Murty, Duberry, Ingimarsson, Shorey, Little, Sidwell, Harper, Hunt, Lita, Long, Kitson, Federici, Halford, de la Cruz, Pearce, Sodje, Bikey, Oster, Convey, Gunnarsson, Seol.

Player to watch: Dave Kitson

With Kevin Doyle, and now Shane Long, both expecting to miss the trip to Manchester, Kitson will be hoping to come in and get his own Premiership scoring record back on track. Making his first league appearance since scoring against Middlesbrough on the opening day against Wigan in midweek, Kitson will be looking to link up with the in-form Leroy Lita in the Royals attack.

Match Facts & Stats

MANCHESTER CITY

13th – 30 points

Highest achievable after Saturday’s matches: 9th

Lowest could fall: 16th

READING

7th – 37 points

Highest achievable after Saturday’s matches: 6th

Lowest could fall: 8th

Ref Watch:

Howard Webb (Yorkshire).

This weekend’s referee is Howard Webb, who took charge of September’s game between the teams in Berkshire, sending off City’s Ousmane Dabo for an elbow on Steve Sidwell.

Match Prediction:

I personally think this will be a tight game that could end up going either way. City will be looking to bounce-back from their recent defeat at the hands of Blackburn, whereas we’ll be hoping to strecth our unbeaten run to seven games. I’ll hope for 2-1 to the travelling hoops.