Pressure continues to grow on Reading in their fight for Championship survival when they travel to Middlesbrough on Saturday.
The Royals sit just one place above the relegation zone prior to Tuesday night’s match against top of the table Fulham (match report and reaction online at Reading.Today).
Middlesbrough are hovering around the play-off places in what has been a fantastic run of form for the team over the Christmas period.
They have collected 39 points from 25 matches with 11 wins, six draws and eight defeats.
After a steady start to the season, the club opted for change when they dismissed of former manager Neil Warnock and brought in Chris Wilder, who achieved promotion to the Premier League with Sheffield United in the 2018/19 campaign.
Boro boast one of the sturdiest defences in the league and have conceded just under a goal per game on average this season with 24 goals conceded, giving them the fourth best record in the division.
Boro have lost just once since the appointment of Wilder, with defeat to Preston in November.
But other than that one slip,they have been in fine form and have picked up five wins, two draws and a loss from his eight games in charge.
They have also had extra time to recover since their FA Cup victory away at Mansfield at the weekend having not been involved in league action this midweek while the Royals are catching up on postponed games throughout December.
Boro’s top scorer so far this season is Andraz Sporar with six goals from 20 matches.
Reading picked up three points earlier in the season when Boro visited the Select Car Leasing Stadium in September.
Alen Halilovic netted the only goal of the game to beat Warnock’s men.
On their last trip to the Riverside, Reading earned a point in October 2020 after a goalless stalemate that saw just one shot recorded on target in the entire match, that was for the away side.
