|
Reading travel to take on Sunderland at Stadium Of Light on Saturday evening, in the first showdown between the sides for more than five years.
The last time the two teams met at Sunderland was back in February 1998, over five years ago, when they eased past their opponents in a high-scoring 4 - 1 thriller, in a League Division One match.
For a detailed analysis of the head-to-head between the two sides, click here
| Recent encounters between the teams: | |||||
| 1997/1998 | Tue 17 Feb | Sunderland | 4 - 1 | Reading | LD1 |
| 1997/1998 | Sat 04 Oct | Reading | 4 - 0 | Sunderland | LD1 |
| 1995/1996 | Sat 16 Dec | Reading | 1 - 1 | Sunderland | LD1 |
| 1995/1996 | Sat 30 Sep | Sunderland | 2 - 2 | Reading | LD1 |
| 1994/1995 | Sat 03 Dec | Sunderland | 0 - 1 | Reading | LD1 |
| 1994/1995 | Sat 22 Oct | Reading | 0 - 2 | Sunderland | LD1 |
| 1986/1987 | Sat 31 Jan | Reading | 1 - 0 | Sunderland | DIV2 |
Recent respective form guides
Sunderland's home form is poor, winning just 2 of the last six, and losing the other 4. While Black Cats have scored 5, a worringly large 9 have been leaked at the other end.
Reading's away form is none too clever either, coming away with three points on 3 occassions, but drawing 1 and losing 2. The games have constituted a decent return of 11 goals for the Royals, and 5 goals against.
Sunderland's 13 points from 8 games sees them lie inside the top half of the table, in 9th position. Reading lie just outside the playoff positions in the Nationwide League Division One, picking up 14 from their 8 games so far.
For a detailed analysis of team form guides throughout the leagues, click here
| Current form guides: | P | W | D | L | F | A | P |
| Sunderland | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 5 | 13 |
| Reading | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 6 | 10 |
FootyMad's prediction ...
A creditable return from recent away games for Royals could well see them head back from Stadium Of Light with a share of the spoils, think the FootyMad panel. Score draw
| Sequence statistics: | |
| Sunderland | 11 games since last home draw. Not won in the 2 most recent games. |
| Reading | 5 games since last away draw. Last drawn game 5 outings ago. |