READING v WEST BROMWICH ALBION
Barclays Premier League
Saturday 12th January 2013, 3pm
Madejski Stadium

MATCH NOTES

The game is Albion’s 250th in Premier League action. So far they have won 62, drawn 63 and lost 124.

Albion last won at Reading in the league 18 years ago, in January 1995.

Only Aston Villa (41) have conceded more goals in the Premier League this season than Reading (40).

Albion's 33 points after 21 matches is at least 11 higher than any of their six previous seasons in the Premier League.

Reading have won only one and lost eight of their past 10 Premier League matches.

Albion have won the last two games they have played on January 12, 3-1 away at Hull City in 2008 and 3-2 at home to Luton Town in 2007.

Albion's last six games: QPR (A, FAC) 1-1; Fulham (H) 1-2; Manchester United (A) 0-2; QPR (A) 2-1; Norwich City (H) 2-1; West Ham United (H) 0-0

Reading's last six games: Crawley Town (A, FAC) 3-1; Tottenham Hotspur (A) 1-3; West Ham United (H) 1-0; Swansea City (H) 0-0; Manchester City (A) 0-1; Arsenal (H) 2-5

TEAM NEWS

Albion

Albion will be without midfielder Zoltan Gera, who is out for the rest of the season with the cruciate ligament injury he suffered during last week’s draw at QPR. Also missing is Youssouf Mulumbu who is away at the Africa Cup of Nations with DR Congo.

Jonas Olsson, Steven Reid, Goran Popov and Claudio Yacob are all doubts although Baggies' boss Steve Clarke is hopeful they will all be fully fit within the next week or so.

Squad: Foster, Myhill, Daniels, Jones, Reid, Olsson, McAuley, Tamas, Dawson, Popov, Ridgewell, Yacob, Dorrans, Thorne, Brunt, Morrison, Thomas, Odemwingie, Fortune, Long, Lukaku, Rosenberg, El Ghanassy.

Reading

New signings Daniel Carrico and Hope Akpan are both in contention to make their Reading debuts but Stephen Kelly was not signed in time.

Former Albion striker Jason Roberts is still out with a hip problem while Hal Robson-Kanu and Mikele Leigertwood are both doubts.

Squad: Federici, Ugwu, Taylor, Gunter, Cummings, Pearce, Morrison, Mariappa, Shorey, Harte, McAnuff, Carrico, Akpan, Tabb, Karacan, Kebe, McCleary, Robson-Kanu, Leigertwood, Le Fondre, Hunt, Pogrebnyak.

QUOTES

Albion head coach Steve Clarke:

“It’s a difficult place to go and whenever you go down to the Madejski it’s always difficult to get anything. We look forward to it because we are full of confidence and we’ll be looking to play some good football. We respect the fact that Reading are down there fighting for their lives and we know we have to match them for effort.

“Brian’s a good man and he’s done all the hard hours and he’s done a fantastic job. They’re making a good fight of it in the Premier League. Whenever you go up against Reading or one of Brian’s teams you know they’re going to be hardworking and industrious and we know we have to go there and match that work rate. We then have to try and find that bit of quality to win the game for us."

“They were involved in a lot of really open, exciting games but were always on the wrong end of the scoreline. I think Brian and his staff have looked at that and assessed it and they’ve really tightened up over the last few weeks. The way they play now is slightly different to how they approached games earlier in the season. They are showing signs of getting to grips with it. It will still be difficult for them but I’m sure in the second half of the season they’ll give it their best shot.”

www.wba.co.uk

Reading boss Brian McDermott:

"They are up there, the manager there Steve Clarke has done a fantastic job. He’s been around successful clubs as a player and a staff member and he was at Liverpool as well last season. He’s done a terrific job, they've got one of our ex-players there who was fantastic for us and I’m sure he’ll get a terrific reception.

"We know what we’re coming up against, we lost to them earlier on this season. Anyone who comes here will have a fight on their hands and we’ll certainly be giving them that.

"They are the type of club we would look at and try and emulate, they've really been solid in the last couple of years. Steve Clarke’s carried on, done really well and done a good job. It’s a good club West Brom."

www.readingfc.co.uk

MATCH ODDS

Result

Albion Win: 7/5, Reading Win: 15/8, Draw: 23/10.

First Goalscorer

Long 11/2, Pogrebnyak 6/1, Lukaku 6/1, Le Fondre 13/2, Hunt 7/1, Odemwingie 7/1, Rosenberg 8/1, Fortune 9/1, Robson-Kanu 10/1, Kebe 11/1, McAnuff 14/1, McCleary 14/1, Dorrans 14/1, El Ghanassy 14/1, J Morrison 14/1, Guthrie 16/1, Brunt 16/1, Thorne 16/1, Harte 18/1, Liegertwood 20/1, S Morrison 20/1, Tabb 20/1.

REFEREE

Kevin Friend (Leicestershire) - Has refereed one Albion game this season - the 1-0 defeat at home to Stoke City at the start of December. Friend took charge of two Albion games last season - the 4-0 defeat at Manchester City in April and the 2-2 draw at Bolton in May. The Leicestershire official was also in charge of Reading's remarkable game at home to Arsenal in the Carling Cup earlier this season which the Gunners won 7-5.

TICKET INFORMATION

Albion's allocation of 2,200 tickets have completely sold out.

WEATHER FORECAST

A 40% chance of rain or snow showers, 3°C

FIXTURE HISTORY

LAST MEETING AT THE MADEJSKI STADIUM

Reading 1-0 Albion
FA Cup 3rd Round
Saturday 8th January 2011, 3.00pm

Reading: Federici, Cummings, Matt Mills, Pearce, Harte, Kebe,Leigertwood, Karacan, McAnuff, Long (Church 75), Hunt (Robson-Kanu 85). Subs not used: McCarthy, Tabb, Ingimarsson, Antonio, Howard.

Goalscorer: Long 40

Albion: Myhill, Hurst, Zuiverloon, Scharner (Olsson 46),Cech, Jara, Dorrans, Barnes (Thomas 63), Brunt, Morrison,Miller (Bednar 52). Subs not used: Carson, Cox, Shorey, Fortune.

Booked: Olsson 47 (foul), Dorrans 62 (dissent)

Sent-Off: Olsson 60 (second bookable offence)

Attendance: 13,005

Referee: Jon Moss (West Yorkshire)

Reading striker Shane Long continued his marvellous recent form as Roberto Di Matteo's love affair with the FA Cup took an unwanted turn. The former Chelsea midfielder twice scored in FA Cup wins at Wembley for the Blues but could not find the inspiration to prevent his West Brom side from slipping to a sixth straight defeat.

Long made it seven goals in six games with a cool finish before half-time while Albion substitute Jonas Olsson was booked twice within 15 minutes of coming on at the break to add to the Barclays Premier League side's woes. Albion are already shorn of suspended centre-half Gabriel Tamas and Di Matteo must surely be weighing up a move for more defenders this month after the deficiencies which were evident in defeat at Fulham on Tuesday shone through again.

Even a change of goalkeeper could not save Albion. Boaz Myhill was handed a rare start after Scott Carson's costly blunder at Craven Cottage in midweek and was greeted with chants of "Albion's number one" from the visiting supporters after a stunning early save to deny Noel Hunt. But the problems at the back were again ruthlessly exposed in the npower Championship side's devastatingly simple strike four minutes before the break. Noel Hunt won a flick-on and Long was able to cruise past stand-in centre-half Gianni Zuiverloon and steer beyond Myhill.

Zuiverloon has spent most of the season on loan at fellow Championship side Ipswich and while he is an able full-back looks lost in the middle, while Olsson's cameo was disastrous. Albion's attacking play did at least threaten occasionally, with Ishmael Miller twice going close on his first start of the season and James Morrison hitting the top of the crossbar, but there can be no doubt that Reading deserved their win.

Boss Brian McDermott led his side to Cup wins over Liverpool and Burnley last season and comfortably added another top-flight scalp. Long has been linked with a move to West Ham in the transfer window and excelled, his movement too sharp for the visitors all afternoon as he added to his goal by being the recipient of both challenges which saw Olsson dismissed. Olsson scythed through Long less than two minutes after coming on at the interval, and then saw red in the 60th minute after more bright play from Long. A bad touch from the Swede was seized upon by Long and after the Republic of Ireland international nicked the ball away he was caught by Olsson's attempted challenge. Referee Jon Moss had no option but to show a second yellow and leave Di Matteo with yet more problems at the back.

A poor last half hour followed with neither side creating much in front of goal as the Royals saw out a good day's work. Di Matteo's thoughts will now turn to next weekend's home fixture with Blackpool and a chance to pick up the first league points since December 5.

For McDermott and Reading, round four awaits and the Royals showed enough to suggest that they have what it takes to mount a serious promotion challenge.

Sporting Life

CURRENT CONNECTIONS

Republic of Ireland international striker Shane Long moved from Reading to The Hawthorns in August 2011 for a fee rumoured to be in the region of £4.5million, rising to a possible £6.5million. Long started his career at Cork City before joining Reading in June 2005. He became a popular figure at the Madejski Stadium, scoring almost 50 goals in his six years at the club. Following his move to the West Midlands Long made a successful start to his Albion career, scoring on his debut against Manchester United and then in his second game for the club at Chelsea.

Jason Roberts had a very successful three years at The Hawthorns after joining the club from Bristol Rovers in July 2000. His goals helped the club reach the play-offs in 2000/01 and  then achieve promotion in 2001/02. The player joined Portsmouth on loan at the start of the 2003/04 season before joining Wigan Athletic permanently in January 2004. In January of this year Roberts moved to Reading on an 18 month contract.

Former England left-back Nicky Shorey joined Albion from local rivals Aston Villa in August 2010. He spent two years at The Hawthorns but was never really a popular figure amongst fans, mainly due to making a number of mistakes which led to goals. Shorey rejoined Reading after his release from Albion, after already spending a successful seven years at the club from 2001 to 2008.

Young defender Donervon Daniels spent time in the youth system at Reading before joining Albion's academy.

Right-back Shaun Cummings played four games for Albion whilst on loan from Chelsea in August 2009. He signed for Reading permanently the following month.

PAST CONNECTIONS

Amongst the players to have turned out at various levels for both clubs are: Paul Barron, John Chadburn, Neil Clement, Simon Cox, Percy Freeman, George James, Harry Kinsell, Graham Potter, Brian Quailey, Sam Sodje, and Phil Whitehead.

ALL-TIME LEAGUE & CUP RECORD VS READING

LAST TEN MATCHES AGAINST READING