Sports Blog 11/12/2017: Championship Preview – Reading vs Cardiff, Monday 11th December 2017

With Wolves drawing at the weekend, Cardiff will be looking to shrink the gap at the top of the Championship when they travel to Reading at 8pm on Sky Sports.

The Bluebirds are in a tasty run of form at the moment. Since losing to promotion-rivals Bristol at the start of November – only their 3rd Championship defeat this season – they’ve won 4 games on the trot. Admittedly none of the sides – Brentford, Barnsley, Nottingham Forest or Norwich – are in the top 10. But still, conceding just 1 goal in 4 means Cardiff have the tightest defence in the Championship, with their backline breached just 14 times in 20 league games.



That leaves Neil Warnock’s side in 2nd place, 3 points ahead of Bristol and 5 behind Wolves, but with a game in hand over both. Interestingly while their rock solid at the back, up front they’re decidedly weaker; only Aston Villa have scored fewer than Cardiff’s 30 goals since the start of the season (in comparison Wolves have banged in 41).

It also means the Bluebirds are the sole side in the top 6 not to have a forward in the double digits. Of their designated strikers, Danny Ward has 4 goals and Omar Bogle 3, with the summer signings sitting at Super Mega PGMs of 17-21 and 19-23 respectively.

As for Reading, they’ll be trying to keep hold of the momentum they’ve build up in the last couple of weeks. A very poor open to the season – if by open you mean from the start of August to the end of October – has given way to an upturn in form, with Jaap Stam’s men picking up 4 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss in their last 7 games. They’ve looked especially confident in their past 2 fixtures, beating Barnsley 3-0 at home before winning 3-1 in Sunderland, putting something distance between Reading and the relegation zone.

Yann Kermorgant is chasing his first goal of the season after a long lay-off due to injury, and goas into Monday’s game at a Super Mega PGM of 25-30, while Jon Bodvarsson is at 14-18 and Sone Aluko is at 12-16.

Despite the 14 places that separate the sides in the Championship, our Spreadex traders have found it too close to call, offering a choice Reading/Cardiff Goal Supremacy spread of -0.1-0.1 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.15-2.35.