Bristol City vs Reading Predictions, Betting Tips and Match Previews

Bristol City head into 2017 in a state of freefall so they could really do with a result here. They come into this match as the bookies favourites but with Reading looking strong, the value may well lie with the visitors.

Lee Johnson is a man under real pressure now, following a run of 8 defeats out of 9. They’ve lost all of their last 5 games and worryingly all of their last 4 have been against sides currently in the bottom half. While the defeats have rarely been by more than 1 goal, Bristol City have just picked up that losing habit and defensive errors are tending to cause them to lose games they might have otherwise got a result from. The Robins have conceded twice or more in 9 of their last 11 games and that suggests that Reading will cause them problems here.

The Royals have won 8 of their last 10 Championship matches to cement themselves into the play-off places. Given the vast contrast in the form of these two sides, it’s really hard to understand why Bristol City are favourites for this and certainly you couldn’t confidently back them at the odds they are available at.

Reading have won 5 of their last 9 on the road and are averaging a solid 1.45 points per game on their travels this season. While Bristol City have won 55% of their home games overall, most of those wins were earlier on in the campaign and 4 of their last 5 matches at Ashton Gate have ended in defeat. Further reason to think Reading may have the edge here is that their game on Friday was abandoned after just 45 minutes giving them an extra rest while Bristol City played the full 90 minutes in defeat at Ipswich.

Reading have scored twice or more in 7 of their last 9 games so look well exposed to take advantage of Bristol City’s current issues at the back. Given all that, backing Reading 0.0 Asian Handicap at 57/40 looks to offer really good value in this one.