Reading head into a relegation crunch tie against Peterborough United with a lot of uncertainty surrounding the club at this stage.

On Sunday night, it was reported by numerous outlets that Veljko Paunovic was on the verge of being sacked, an expected outcome considering the Royals have lost their last eight competitive games coming into this midweek match.

However, the Serbian took charge of training yesterday according to talkSPORT journalist Alex Crook and he could be set to take charge tomorrow night against all expectations, in what could be a very strange atmosphere tomorrow evening.

 

 

Despite fan protests and terrible results, something they can't shy away from, the one positive they could take from last weekend was the return of Yakou Meite, with the Frenchman making a real impact straight away.

Having the beating of Ian Maatsen, he nearly grabbed an assist when he presented Tom Ince with a golden chance to make it 3-3, but the Stoke City loanee miscued the shot with his effort ending in the stands.

Mistakes must be minimised tomorrow though with their opponents currently just one point behind the Royals with a game in hand, in what could be a crucial game in determining who stays up and who's relegated at the end of the season.

What lineup will Paunovic or an interim coach go with though? We have made our prediction ahead of this one.

A lot of Reading fans would probably want to have academy graduate Luke Southwood between the sticks - but Karl Hein didn't exactly do much wrong at the weekend and actually made a very good save to keep the score at 0-0 early on.

Baba Rahman and Andy Yiadom start once again with Tom Holmes and Michael Morrison in the centre as an unchanged back four, although bringing Tom McIntyre in at some point to provide the defence with a new voice could potentially pay dividends.

In midfield, Josh Laurent and Andy Rinomhota retain their partnership, although the former will be hoping to show the form he was in last season because he's struggled quite a bit in recent months and that's been detrimental to the Royals' season. He's a talented player when he's at the top of his game.

Coming in for the suspended Junior Hoilett, who serves a one-match ban after receiving two bookings on Saturday, is Tom Dele-Bashiru who waited patiently on the bench against Coventry.

Giving Yakou Meite a chance would also be an option but considering he's only just coming back from an ACL injury, risking him could end up proving to be a negative for the rest of the season if he gets injured again.

Two players that do keep their spots though are John Swift and Tom Ince, with the former a crucial player when he's in top form and the latter making decent first impressions at the Select Car Leasing Stadium.

And up top, it has to be Lucas Joao again with George Puscas being shipped out on loan last month. It wouldn't be a surprise to see teenager Jahmari Clarke come on at some point though.