Reading will be desperately hoping for another win tomorrow afternoon as they take on Grant McCann's Hull City, a tie that looks set to be close on paper.

The Royals will be buoyed by their impressive 3-2 away victory at Swansea City last weekend, with Tom Dele-Bashiru, Andy Carroll and Danny Drinkwater ensuring they took a much-needed three points back to Berkshire.

This win extended the gap between themselves and the drop zone from two to four points going into their meeting with the Tigers, as they look to pull themselves away from the threat of relegation following their six-point deduction from the EFL.

 

 

Unfortunately for tomorrow's hosts at the Select Car Leasing Stadium, they face a Hull side that have won their last four games, being rejuvenated by a change in system and seeing their fortunes improve dramatically after looking doomed earlier in the campaign.

Previously looking like relegation favourites, they will now see this clash in Berkshire as a real opportunity to extend their superb run with the Royals only winning just two of their last eight matches.

Veljko Paunovic's men are still in the grips of an injury crisis at the moment, but with a few first-teamers returning since the international break, they will still fancy their chances of a victory on home soil this weekend.

Ahead of this tie, we have predicted the starting lineup the Serbian may choose.

On another day, Paunovic's side would have come away from South Wales with one point or nothing, but they fought bravely against Russell Martin's men and with no fresh injury concerns this week, it would be a surprise to see any changes.

Luke Southwood was one player who stepped up to the plate to keep the Swans out, performing the simple tasks well and making smart stops where necessary.

He is beginning to establish himself as one of the top goalkeepers in the second tier, much to the detriment of Rafael Cabral who looks set to spend the remainder of the season on the bench at this rate, with his contract running out next summer.

Baba Rahman's place isn't under threat though as the club's only established left-back option - and he lines up alongside Scott Dann and Tom Holmes - with the latter playing exceptionally well recently along with Southwood.

Andy Yiadom played his part defensively in securing the win last Saturday, but his attacking threat has been just as important and despite his side's switch to a back four, he will be looking to get forward in a quest to break the deadlock tomorrow. He starts on the right again.

So does John Laurent, who is tasked with the job of sitting as the deepest player in midfield to keep tabs on the threatening George Honeyman. Marking him out of the game could go a long way in ensuring the home side come away with a good result.

He remains behind talisman John Swift and Chelsea loanee Drinkwater, both of whom will be eager to record more goal contributions with the former registering 17 in 20 games so far this season and the latter scoring and assisting fellow ex-England international Carroll at the Swansea.com Stadium.

Dele-Bashiru was also a real threat out wide last weekend. More naturally a central midfielder, he showed he can be a useful asset out wide and with that, he is in line to start again, along with Alen Halilovic who came in for the injured Ejaria.

Croatian Halilovic will be a major creative threat alongside Swift, something the Tigers will need to look out for.

They will also need to monitor 32-year-old Carroll, who looks set to cause them real problems aerially and will get himself on the scoresheet again if McCann's defence aren't on their A-game.