Reading are set to take on Stoke City in their season opener at the bet365 Stadium on Saturday afternoon, in what is likely to be a closely-fought battle between the two teams. 

The Royals will be looking to make a positive start to the season, having narrowly missed out on a top-six finish in the Championship last term.

Veljko Paunovic's side finished seventh in the second-tier standings, which will have been tough to take for the club's supporters, who had seen much-needed improvement from their side compared to previous seasons.

They take on a Stoke City team that finished 14th in the Championship table last season, and they'll be hoping they can make a strong start to this year's campaign themselves.

It's not been the best of pre-season campaigns for Reading, with defeats to West Ham and ten-men Crystal Palace not being the ideal preparation heading into their clash against Michael O'Neill's side.

Paunovic doesn't have too many injury concerns heading into the game against Stoke, but his squad is still light on depth in terms of senior options to call upon.

The likes of Tom McIntyre and Tom Holmes could be involved after being included in the squad in their match against Crystal Palace, whilst youngster Femi Azeez has looked bright during their pre-season matches, and will be pushing for a start in this one.

Liam Moore has returned to the squad shortly after international duty with Jamaica, and is expected to be involved against Stoke this weekend.

There had been previous concerns over the fitness of Lucas Joao and George Puscas earlier in pre-season, but both players have had much-needed minutes under their belt in recent weeks.

Yakou Meite is ruled out of the clash with the Potters, with the Ivorian international picking up a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament injury earlier this summer, which is likely to rule him out of action for the foreseeable future.

He'll leave a sizeable void in the Reading team as well, with Meite scoring 12 goals in 25 appearances in an injury-hit campaign last term.

John Swift has come through pre-season unscathed, and the Reading supporters will be eager to see the former Chelsea man make a positive impact going forwards, especially now that Michael Olise has left the club on a permanent basis.