Reading v Aston Villa: Classic Encounter, Team News, Prediction and More

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90 Min
Publish date:
Aug 14, 2017

Aston Villa travel to the Madejski Stadium on Tuesday night, and despite it only being the third Championship game of the season, both sides are desperate to gain all three points.

The game will have added spice following the transfer of Leandro Bacuna between the two clubs last week.

The midfielder's withdrawal in Villa's opening game of the campaign was meet with cheers from the home supporters, and reportedly led to the 25-year-old requesting to leave Villa Park.

The meeting between the two clubs on Tuesday pits two of the Premier League's greatest defenders against each other, in Jaap Stam and Steve Bruce.

The duo never actually played together at Old Trafford but both will be hoping for a Sir Alex Ferguson-type performance from their team.

Classic Encounter

Reading 2-4 Aston Villa (2010,FA Cup)

Then Premier League Aston Villa dumped Reading out of the FA Cup at the quarter-final stage in 2010, thanks to a John Carew hat trick.

Yet, it wasn't all plain sailing for Martin O'Neill's side, who found themselves 2-0 down at half time.

However, a Villa team containing the likes of Richard Dunne, James Milner, Stiliyan Petrov and Ashley Young managed to turn it around and were 3-2 ahead, just 15 minutes into the second half.

Villa endured a nervy end to the game and it took until the 90th minute for them to secure their place in the semi-final, thanks to Carew's converted penalty.

Recent Form

Both clubs have had similar starts to the season, and have gained just one point from their first two games.

Reading - who were a penalty shoot-out away from the Premier League at the end of last season - lost 2-0 to QPR on the opening day of the 2017/18 campaign.

After easily dispatching League One Gillingham in the first round of the League Cup, Stam's men drew against Fulham on Saturday.

Villa on the other hand, began the season with a 1-1 draw against Hull, a game which a number of home fans felt should have been wrapped up in the first half.

After coming through a tricky League Cup tie against Colchester, the Villans endured a horrible day out in Cardiff, losing 3-0 to Neil Warnock's side.

As a result, both teams are desperate for a win on Tuesday.

Team News

Reading

The Royals still have a number of players sidelined with long term injuries, such as Gareth McCleary, Roy Beerens, Jordan Obita and Yann Kermorgant.

Striker Jon Dadi Bodvarsson will also be unavailable for a few weeks due to knee ligament problems.

It is unclear whether new signing Leandro Bacuna will start against his old club, but given his versatility he could slot into Stam's starting team.

Aston Villa

Steve Bruce is still without Jonathan Kodjia, Mile Jedinak and Jack Grealish for Tuesday's trip to the Madjeski.

The Villans are already suffering from a shortage of wide men with Andre Green and Ahmed Elmohamady joining Grealish on the sidelines.

Therefore, Albert Adomah will likely start, and Icelandic midfielder Bikir Bjarnason could fill in at the vacant left midfield position.

Predicted Line Ups

Reading (4-4-1-1) Mannone, Clement, Moore, McShane, Gunter, Kelly, Evans, Blackett, Swift, Barrow, Mendes

Aston Villa (4-4-1-1) Johnstone, Bree, Chester, Terry, Taylor, Adomah, Lansbury, Hourihane, Bjarnason, Agbonlahor, Hogan

Prediction

Both teams have struggled to score goals so far this season, so it could be a low scoring affair. Despite picking up just one point from their opening two games, Reading have not played poorly.

Villa on the other hand, were terrible in the second half against Hull and continued in a similar vein against Cardiff.