Reading seek to strengthen their place in the Play-Offs as they face relegation-battling Wycombe Wanderers

The Royals’ menacing attacking trio of Ovie Ejaria, Lucas Joao and Michael Olise will undoubtedly be looking to open the floodgates of the Championship’s leakiest defence when they face Wycombe on Tuesday evening at Adams Park.

After firing a blank against Neil Warnock’s well-drilled Middlesbrough side on Saturday, Veljko Paunovic’s high flying Royals have a fantastic opportunity to further reinforce their credentials as a top-six Championship side.

The Serbian revolution at Reading, headed up by the manager, has proven the need for unity in an attempt to make Play-Offs, and if it weren’t for the lack of depth in the Royals’ squad, they’d likely be challenging the top two.

Wycombe’s campaign to date has been a very different story. A season of struggle was always likely for Gareth Ainsworth’s side, but the fight that the Chairboys continue to show is admirable. Wycombe are an organised, hard-working side – exactly the sort of team that Reading have struggled against in the past.

The away side come into Tuesday’s fixture with a desire to put things right after the Middlesbrough defeat. The likes of George Puscas – who made a brief cameo on Saturday afternoon on his comeback from a long injury lay-off – could line up with the Championship’s third-highest scorer, Lucas Joao, on Tuesday. This should bolster a usually potent Reading attack that on Saturday looked void of any real threat to Boro’s goal.

Whilst Wycombe’s stats are heavily stacked against them (a 0.73PPG at home with only two games won at Adams Park all season), Reading’s Tuesday night statistics don’t exactly work in their favour.

The Royals have won four times in 41 away midweek league games since 2014, and although figures such as these may be trivial, there are a few other ‘conspiracy factors’ that come into play.

Wycombe have ex-Reading men Garath McCleary and Jordan Obita available to face the Royals on Tuesday, who will likely be looking to get one over their former employers.

McCleary will undoubtedly be looking to take the bragging rights against his former employers. The winger was fairly vocal in his disillusion with how things panned out for him during his last two seasons with the Royals, and this will surely spur him on against Reading on Tuesday night.

Wycombe can’t be faulted for their desire, and goalkeeper David Stockdale proves that in the tweet below. But, in reality, the Chairboys aren’t looking particularly likely to stay in the Championship, currently sitting bottom, and could be as much as 14 points adrift of 21st place come kick-off on Tuesday night should Birmingham be beating Norwich.

David Adam Stockdale.#MILvWYC pic.twitter.com/4Pqbvgj3uH

— Wycombe Wanderers (@wwfcofficial) February 21, 2021

Manager Gareth Ainsworth also spoke of the ambitions in the club in his post-match interview after Wycombe’s 0-0 draw with Millwall on Saturday, saying how he wanted Wycombe ‘to be known as a bigger Wycombe than we’ve ever been.’

However, on paper, the squad is arguably not one of the Championship’s strongest and may struggle to seriously challenge for survival in the second tier this season. This is what makes the Reading fixture a little more interesting.

The Royals are a cut above in terms of quality on paper, but Royals fans are all too used to their side coming unstuck at struggling opposition.

Likewise, the fluid passing game can be a joy to behold, but only when teams allow them space to do so. Those who sit back and play a variation of the infamous ‘low block’ tend to do well against Reading – as Middlesbrough proved on Saturday.

Coming off a solid defensive showing at the Den on Saturday, Wycombe may be confident that they can silence Reading’s normally vocal attacking line.

The away side have little excuse to not come back down the M4 with the points on Tuesday night, but will be wary of a potential slip up should the Chairboys come racing out of the blocks – especially after Saturday’s lacklustre result.

Team News:

Left-back Joe Jacobson and striker Adebayo Akinfenwa are both doubts for the fixture against Reading. Other than that, Wycombe have a fully fit squad.

Reading will be without winger Yakou Meite, dynamic playmaker John Swift and full back/midfielder Felipe Araruna. Captain Liam Moore could regain his place in the starting line up after recently returning from injury.

Head to Head:

Wycombe and Reading have played each other nine times in league competitions since 1998. Reading have won seven of those games, drawing one and Wycombe winning the other.

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