Cardiff City vs Reading. Sky Bet Championship.
Cardiff City StadiumAttendance32,478.
Watch live on Sky Sports Football or Main Event from 12pm on Sunday
Sunday 6 May 2018 12:22, UK
Cardiff are without Aron Gunnarsson for what they hope will be a promotion party at home to Reading on Sunday, live on Sky Sports Football from 12pm.
The Iceland midfielder has undergone knee surgery this week and misses out as Cardiff chase the win which will take them into the Premier League.
Marko Grujic or Craig Bryson are the favourites to replace Gunnarsson, who still hopes to make next month's World Cup in Russia. Bluebirds boss Neil Warnock also has to decide who gets the nod up up front between Kenneth Zohore and Gary Madine.
Reading welcome back defender Paul McShane (groin) and winger Callum Harriott (hamstring) as they seek the point which will almost certainly guarantee their Championship status. Defender Leandro Bacuna is also available after completing a three-match suspension.
Loan signing Tommy Elphick is contention for only his second Royals start after recovering from a knee problem. But fellow defender Tyler Blackett misses out again after his recent red card at Sheffield Wednesday.
Cardiff have won three of their last four home league meetings with Reading (L1) although they lost 1-0 last season.
The Royals are unbeaten in their last four league games against Cardiff (W2 D2).
Cardiff have won 13 of their 20 Championship games in 2018 - only Fulham have won more since the turn of the year (16).
By contrast, only Sunderland (two) have won fewer Championship games than Reading (three) in 2018.
Neil Warnock is set to face Reading in a home match for the first time since November 2010 with QPR, a 3-1 win - his last six games against them have all been at the Madejski Stadium.
Junior Hoilett has both scored more goals (nine) and provided more assists (11) this season than he has in any of his previous eight seasons in England.
This is a proper must-win game at Deepdale. Preston have nothing to lose in going for it because it's their only chance of leap-frogging Derby into sixth, and Burton really need to go for the win.
A draw could keep Albion up but they would be relying far too much on results to go their way around them. They are on a high at the moment after three straight wins and this should be a cracker on Sunday, but I think these two sides will end up sharing the points, and that would help no one.
David Prutton predicts: 1-1 (13/2 with Sky Bet)
