Tony Mowbray's Blackburn Rovers side have scored an incredible 16 goals in their opening seven games, sitting 10th.
Their last result was a comfortable 4-0 against newly-promoted Coventry City.
Meanwhile, Reading beat Rotherham United 3-0, extending their lead at the top to five points whilst conceding just once.
-
Team news
Blackburn goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski is to be assessed before the match after picking up a knock toward the end of the last match.
If he is to miss out, former Middlesbrough stopper Aynsley Pears will likely make his Blackburn debut.
For the visitors, John Swift, Andy Yiadom and Felipe Araruna remain sidelined for a considerable amount of time.
Lucas Joao is likely to be recalled from the start after notching off of the bench on Saturday.
-
Predicted lineups
Blackburn Rovers
Kaminski; Nyambe, Lenihan, Williams, Bell; Trybull, Holtby, Johnson; Elliott, Armstrong, Brereton.
Reading
Rafael; Esteves, Morrison, Moore, Richards; Laurent, Rinomhota; Meite, Olise, Ejaria; Joao.
-
Ones to watch
As top scorers, the front line of the Lancashire-based side are on fire.
Adam Armstrong is currently joint top-scorer, alongside Brentford star Ivan Toney, with seven league goals.
Former Nottingham Forest striker Ben Brereton and Liverpool loanee Harvey Elliott support Armstrong, contributing three more goals.
For the visitors, it is their backline that has earned the praise.
The Royals have conceded just once all season, a consolation goal against Cardiff City.
No player has made more blocks than captain Liam Moore so far this season, with the former Leicester City centre-half playing his best football in a Reading shirt.
-
Previous meeting
Post-lockdown the two played out a thrilling 4-3 Rovers win with Brereton, Armstrong, Joe Rothwell and Sam Gallagher netting for the hosts and Swift, Sam Baldock and Yakou Meite scoring Mark Bowen's side's goals.
Mowbray's side completed the double over Reading last season, winning 2-1 at the Madejski in September.
Overall the sides have met 23 times since their first meeting in 1913, with Rovers winning nine, drawing nine and losing five.
Manager's thoughts
Blackburn boss Mowbray is far from concerned about injuries for this match, stating that they are just minor.
"We’ll have to wait and see how Thomas gets on in training.
“He’s got a minor injury, we’ll see how he feels.
“We’ll see how he goes and we’ll make a decision whether we go for him or young Aynsley between the sticks.
“My preference would be to just keep Thomas going, but we’ll wait and see, we think he may have just tweaked something in his groin, but it’s nothing major at all.
“Daniel [Ayala] is probably going to be on the grass today and we’ll make a decision on him, but I don’t feel we need to risk anything with him.
“If we’ve got knocks they’re pretty minor ones."
Meanwhile, Serbian Veljko Paunovic believes that the trip to Ewood Park will be the league leaders' toughest test yet.
Speaking to the club website he said:
"We expect it to be our toughest test yet.
"They play good football, they have an experienced coach with a fantastic record in the league.
"So with all that I expect a very challenging game – it’s not going to be easy. But what game was easy for us?
"We have to manage the load on the players, the minutes that the guys are playing. And we have a plan for everyone - how to engage everyone, keep everyone connected. And you have to have everyone ready."
-
Where to watch
The match will be available on iFollow for £10, however, the game is also live on the Sky Sports red button service.