Reading face the daunting task of facing third place Fulham at Craven Cottage on New Years Day.
The Royals come into this match with four consecutive clean sheets, and will be trying to make it five and six unbeaten in the Championship, as they continue to progress up the table.
The home side will be looking for three points in this contest to heap pressure on the top two in the league.
Last Time Out
Both teams were in action on Sunday, with both sides picking up three points.
Fulham picked up three points on their own turf after narrowly overcoming a resurgent Stoke City side by 1-0.
Reading impressively took three points on the road against play off chasing Preston North End, as the Royals won 2-0 courtesy of two early strikes in the first half from John Swift and Lucas Joao.
Team News
Reading don't have any new injury concerns from the Preston match.
However Mark Bowen did hint at a bit of rotation depending on the 'energy levels' of each of his players.
The likes of Andy Yiadom and George Puscas are still recovering from respective injuries.
Sam Baldock could return to the squad for this game.
Harry Arter and Maxime Le Marchand are out for Fulham. Joshua Onomah is a doubt after limping off in the first half against Stoke.
Alfie Mawson also picked up an injury against Stoke and is therefore out of the game.
Predicted starting XI's
Fulham's predicted starting XI (4-3-3)- Rodak; Christie, Ream, Odoi, Bryan; Cavaleiro, Reed, Cairney; Knockaert, Reid, Mitrovic.
Reading's predicted starting XI (4-3-3)- Rafael; Gunter, Morrison, Moore, Blackett; Pele, Rinomhota, Swift; Meite, Ejaria, Joao.
Manager Comments
Fulham manager Scott Parker is hoping that no more of his players suffer injuries on Wednesday.
He said: “We’re in dangerous territory, and every team is the same, you’re running out there with your fingers crossed, hoping you don’t get any big injuries, because the bodies are struggling a little bit. Hopefully, we’ll get some recovery into these and we’ll go again on Wednesday.”
Reading manager Bowen has had his say on the tough task ahead of his side on Wednesday.
He said: "It's going to be a difficult afternoon. They are a really accomplished side so it'll be difficult.
"We can't get to far ahead of ourselves and if we know it's going to be really hard then that focuses the mind a lot better.
"Our biggest danger today was our mentality. We had had three clean sheets and two wins so it was easy to say if we had got beaten it was still a good Christmas but that's not good enough.
Head to Head record
These two sides have met 54 times in all competitions with Fulham having the better of the head to head.
The Cottagers have beaten the Royals 21 times in all competitions.
There have been 16 draws between these two sides, and the Royals have beaten Fulham on 17 occassions including the play off semi-final under Jaap Stam.
The last time these two sides met was earlier this season at the Madejski Stadium, where both Aleksandar Mitrovic and Tom Cairney bagged braces as the Whites beat the 10 men Royals by 4-1.
That game was the beginning of the end for now ex-Reading manager Jose Gomes.
Key Players to watch out for
Fulham- Bobby Decordova Reid
Obviously most people would say that Aleksander Mitrovic and Tom Cairney would be the players to watch out for, but one player who has been on great recent form is striker Bobby Reid.
The ex Bristol-City poacher has scored three goals in his last two games, and will be looking to inflict pain to Reading FC on New Years Day.
Reading- John Swift
The 24-year-old has hit the ground running since returning from injury only recently.
His presence has been vital in Reading's last two wins in the Championship.
The English midfielder scored the vital goal in the Royals's 1-0 victory over QPR on Boxing Day. Reading's star player also opened the scoring as the Berkshire side ran out 2-0 winners on Sunday against Preston.
