Bristol City vs Reading preview
Thursday 18 April 2019 18:03, UK
Bristol City are set to be boosted by the return of midfielder Korey Smith for the visit of Reading in the Sky Bet Championship on Friday (kick-off 12pm).
Smith suffered an injury in the second half of the win over Middlesbrough at the start of the month but has been training well and travelled with the squad to Aston Villa last week. Winger Callum O'Dowda has not featured since March 12 as he recovers from a knee injury but is closing in on a return.
Frank Fielding remains sidelined but fellow goalkeeper Niki Maenpaa is "due back pretty soon" according to assistant head coach Dean Holden.
Reading midfielder John Swift will miss the rest of the season after undergoing surgery on his hip. Swift suffered the injury during the 2-1 victory over Preston at the end of March and had already missed three games before the operation.
Forward Jon Dadi Bodvarsson has resumed training after a back injury but is unlikely to be ready to face Bristol City. Omar Richards (knee) is in the latter stages of his rehab while fellow defenders Paul McShane (Achilles) and John O'Shea (calf) are both out of the Easter weekend games.
Opta stats
Bristol City have lost eight of their last 10 league meetings with Reading (W2 D0 L8).
Reading have won three of their last four league visits to Ashton Gate against Bristol City (W3 D0 L1), though they lost 0-2 last season under Jaap Stam.
Bristol City have won their last five home league matches played on Good Friday (1971, 1972, 1974, 2014, 2017), last losing in 1966 against Southampton.
Reading have won none of their last 10 away league matches played on Good Friday (W0 D3 L7), failing to score in their last five.
Bristol City manager Lee Johnson is unbeaten in four matches on Good Friday (W2 D2 L0).
Reading have won five of their last 11 league matches (W5 D3 L3) - as many as they'd won in their previous 36 matches (W5 D13 L18).
Prutton's prediction
David Prutton predicts: 2-0 (15/2 with Sky Bet)
