After a 2022 of turbulence both on and off the pitch so far, Reading will be hoping to get their first win of the calendar year tomorrow evening when they face mid-table outfit Luton Town.

Despite their current position, the Hatters pulled off a remarkable 3-2 victory against promotion favourites AFC Bournemouth at the weekend, scoring a last-gasp winner to send Kenilworth Road into raptures.

However, they will need to forget about that this midweek as they face the relegation-battling Royals at the Select Car Leasing Stadium, a rearranged fixture after a Covid outbreak in the home side's camp last month.

 

 

The Berkshire outfit have endured a torrid past couple of weeks, collapsing late on against Derby County, losing to sixth-tier side Kidderminster Harriers in a huge shock, registering their record home defeat against Fulham as they lost 7-0 and conceding a late-minute goal against Middlesbrough.

It didn't get much better for Veljko Paunovic's men on Saturday after that defeat at the Riverside Stadium, with centre-back Liam Moore being stripped of the captaincy in a brutal statement with the ex-Leicester City man handing in a transfer request for the second time during his five-and-a-half year stay at the club.

He's recovering from an injury at this moment in time but even when he does, he's unlikely to be involved judging by that statement and the Jamaica international is joined by several others on the sidelines.

With these injuries to contend with, who will line up for the home side tomorrow night? We have had a go at predicting the 11 Paunovic will start.

Some would criticise Luke Southwood for his failure to stop Matt Crooks' equaliser on Saturday, but others would view that as harsh and he certainly made some good saves regardless, so he starts in goal with Rafael Cabral terminating his contract yesterday.

Ethan Bristow also starts again, despite the inexperience he has shown in stages. It's an unenviable task for him to fill in there after suffering defeats against Kidderminster and Fulham, but he's kept going and will only improve with more experience.

Speaking of experience, Michael Morrison returns to the first-team lineup for the first time since September to take his place in central defence alongside Tom Holmes, with the former's presence very much needed in Scott Dann's absence.

Dejan Tetek starts again at right-back - and both he and Bristow will be hoping to get forward and contribute offensively. Their main priority, however, has to be keeping a clean sheet to give the Royals the very best chance of winning three points.

Morrison's return, if fit enough after playing for the Under-23s last week, allows Josh Laurent to retake his place in the centre alongside Andy Rinomhota, the duo that proved to be so successful at the start of the 2020/21 season as the Royals went unbeaten in their opening eight league games.

That should help to provide the Berkshire outfit with a real presence in the middle of the park and allows Paunovic to drop Danny Drinkwater who hasn't been up to scratch in recent games despite his obvious class.

John Swift has been very quiet in recent games and probably deserves to be dropped, but he's likely to start in an advanced midfield role once again, always capable of producing the magic needed to change games.

One man that was dropped from the starting lineup that didn't deserve to be was Mamadi Camara, so he regains his place at the expense of Junior Hoilett who was forced to come off with an injury at the weekend.

Camara is joined by Tom Dele-Bashiru on the right-hand side, and with Lucas Joao only playing in the latter stages of Saturday's game after coming on as a substitute, he may start on the bench again with George Puscas taking the out-of-contract Andy Carroll's place up top.