Both Reading and Manchester City will be hoping to bounce back after losses last weekend. A 3-1 defeat for City to the current WSL champions Chelsea means they sit only one point above the Royals who suffered a frustrating 1-0 loss against Birmingham last Sunday.

Gareth Taylor’s City and Kelly Chambers’ Reading will both be keen to break into the title-contending top three spots of the table as a win for Reading would put them above the Manchester side.

The match kicks off at 2pm BST on Sunday 18th October.

  • Team News

Despite having the majority of possession and 22 shots against Birmingham, Reading came away empty-handed. Boss Kelly Chambers will be keen for her team to take full advantage of any chances they get against the former WSL winners. 

Before their meeting with City on Sunday Chambers said: “We know that Man City have a fantastic side. We know what our strengths are and we know that they have struggled against that in recent times, so it’s a case of watching them, knowing what we need to do and bring them to the Madejski and giving them a real good game and hopefully one we can get a result from.”

Man City have had a bumpy start to the season with wins over Aston Villa and Tottenham, a 0-0 draw to Brighton and Hove Albion, and last weekend’s defeat to Chelsea. Gareth Taylor knows his side can’t afford to drop any more points if they are to keep their title hopes alive:

"We've seen already a high level of competition and teams will take points off one another. We need to keep positive and maintain focus.”

City remain without Aoife Mannion, Megan Campbell and Lauren Hemp who are out through injury.

  • Previous meeting

Reading and Man City only played against each other once in the WSL last year as the season was halted due to the coronavirus pandemic in early March.

The two sides last met in September 2019 with City coming out on top thanks to a Pauline Bremer brace, earning them a 2-0 win over Reading at Adams Park. 

Man City should have come away with more goals as the Royals’ chances were few and far between. Natasha Harding had the only real chance for the home side but her shot was slotted just wide of Ellie Roebuck’s posts.

Watch: FA WSL highlights: Reading vs Manchester City

  • Ones to watch

Ellen White will be hoping to equal Nikita Parris’ tally of 49 goals to become the joint holder of the all-time WSL goalscoring record. 

Despite her goalscoring talents, White has not been the target woman for City this season as Chloe Kelly has been in superb form, scoring four in her last three games.

Reading will be fearful of the former Everton forward as they are fully aware of Kelly’s threat in front of goal after she scored a hat-trick against them back in January.

Reading’s Angharad James and Brooke Chaplen will be desperate to hit the back of City’s net this weekend after failing to do so against Birmingham. The pair had good chances to put the Royals in front but stuttered in front of goal.

  • How to follow

Live stream: The FA Player KO 14:00