Wolves v Reading
Saturday December 26, 17:15
Live on Sky Sports 5
Saturday December 26, 17:15
Live on Sky Sports 5
Wolves
There's always a Championship manager never more than one bad defeat away from potentially losing their job and Kenny Jackett is the man who currently finds himself in that position after Sunday's 4-1 thrashing at Sheffield Wednesday, where his men took the lead before being blown away and probably should have lost by more than they did. That defeat leaves Wanderers languishing down in 17th place and they are now looking down at the seven-point gap to thebottom three rather than up to the play-off spots where most of their supporters had expected to be pushing for a place again this season.
Their home form has been rotten all season and last week the cameras were there as they lost 3-2 against Leeds despite Benik Afobe returning to form with a well-taken strike to put them ahead. Jackett, who 61% of fans want out according to a poll in the local paper, admitted his side were out-muscled as the visitors hit them with a triple-whammy within 16 minutes either side of half-time.
Reading
Brian McDermott's return to the Madejski Stadium became the perfect day for him and the Reading faithful as a screamer from Danny Williams gave the Royals a hard-fought 1-0 win over Blackburn - just their second victory and a first clean sheet in 11 games - to move up to 11th place in the Championship. We had seen them in action a few days earlier at Hull where they were a bit unlucky to go in at half-time only one goal up, having dominated the first 45 minutes, only to be overrun after the interval as the home side stepped up the tempo. That said the Royals actually held out until the 90th minute before conceding a late winner.
McDermott brought striker Ola John back into the squad for the Blackburn game after he had taken to social media to complain about being left out of the squad at Hull, and following a lively 20-minute cameo off the bench, he's challenging Nick Blackman and Matej Vydra for a starting spot here.
Match Odds
Wanderers are 2.56 favourites with the visitors priced at 3.05 and the draw available at 3.50and this looks like a fixture with a good betting opportunity. The home side have won just two out of 11 at Molineux this season, are out of form and a sizeable and fast-growing section of their support want Jackett out. Bearing all that in mind I certainly don't want to be backing them here. With McDermott back in the hot-seat for Reading, they have the feel-good factor back and the fans onside.
Admittedly the Royals have lost their last five away games but if we look at their last couple of results they were a bit unlucky to lose at Hull and deserved the home win over in-form Blackburn at the weekend so I'm pretty confident they won't leave the Black Country empty-handed. Taking that price about the away win is the bold call, while those punters who prefer a more cautious approach can back the Royals in the draw no bet market at Evens but either way I'm expecting a positive result for the away side and Jackett pushed a step closer to becoming the division's next managerial casualty.
Over/Under 2.5 goals
Unders is strongly fancied again by the market here at 1.75 with overs a tempting [2.29]. Given that Wolves' last two games have ended in 2-3 and 1-4 reverses, if you do like to play the goal markets then the value has to be in backing overs. The return of on-loan defender Mike Williamson to Newcastle has certainly had an effect at Molineux. Just three goals were conceded during his five matches with the club - since his departure they've let in nine in four.
With Blackman, Vydra and John, the visitors have plenty of firepower in their ranks, while Jackett will surely bow to the increasing fans' pressure and play a more attacking 4-4-2 formation with somebody (Grant Holt possibly) alongside Afobe, rather than the 4-5-1 he has favoured at home as well as on the road. OPTA stats tell us that despite only being in 11th place, Reading have had more shots on target than any other side in the division (110) so at I'm going to take a chance that they make at least a couple count here and we get over 2.5 goals - at [2.29] it's well worth the second bet here.
Recommended Bets
Back Reading draw no bet @ Evens
Back over 2.5 goals @ [2.29]
Back over 2.5 goals @ [2.29]
