SO, Fulham it is then. A promising display at Burton Albion last weekend confirmed a trip to Craven Cottage on Saturday followed by the home leg on Tuesday evening next week.
Our record against the Cottagers is mixed, to say the least.
In the league this year we’ve won one and lost one. This was a 1-0 win after the home fixture was postponed at half-time due to fog and the defeat was a huge 5-0 loss in December.
Our overall record against Fulham doesn’t make for brilliant reading – four defeats in five matches at Craven Cottage since 2007, conceding 18 goals in the process.
However, our recent league form is promising, winning seven out of our last 10 games, beating Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds in the process – teams with similar form and quality to Fulham.
There is no doubt Reading are the underdogs with the bookmakers going into the away leg of the play-off semi-finals, but that should by no means be the be-all-and-end-all.
We looked a confident team with renewed energy against Wigan and Burton in recent matches, and with the return of Tiago Illori and Paul McShane at the back, we looked solid as well.
Reading captain, Paul McShane.
I think if we go with a similar formation to the 3-4-2-1 employed at Burton we would have a big chance at keeping a clean sheet at Fulham and then using that as a springboard to win the tie at Madejski Stadium next Tuesday.
I would certainly go for the same back three, or five depending on how you look at it – with Illori, Liam Moore and McShane as the three centre-backs with Jordan Obita and Chris Gunter as the wing-backs.
The midfield may change and could see Danny Williams coming in for George Evans or even for Joseph Mendes and therefore bolstering the central midfield in a 3-5-1-1 line-up.
With the recent injury to Gareth McCleary it’s unclear on how long he will be out for, so if we assume he’s not available for at least the away leg on Saturday, I would play Roy Beerens in behind Yann Kermogant with the central midfield of Williams, Liam Kelly and Evans or John Swift.
Whatever the selection it will be tough, but without a shadow of a doubt, I think we can do it.
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