Reading vs Brighton & Hove Albion Predictions & Betting Tips, Match Previews

The jury is still out on Jaap Stam’s Reading and it may be some weeks yet before we can really start to make a judgement on their progress, or lack of it, under the Dutchman. They started well with a 1-0 win at home to Preston on the opening day and backed that up with a League Cup win over Plymouth. However, they’ve slumped to successive league defeats since then, going down 2-0 at Wolves and 4-1 at Newcastle in their most recent game on Wednesday.

They will probably brush that one off and put it down to the quality of the opposition, but this is unlikely to be any easier with Brighton once again looking like one of the most impressive teams in the league. Their opening three league results and performances could quite easily have taken place in the Second Half of last season ,when they frequently put several goals past the weaker teams and battling well to at least avoid defeat against the better ones.

They are yet to concede a goal in 4 games this term with a 0-0 draw on the opening day at Derby. Followed by three easy home wins against Colchester, Nottingham Forest and Rotherham. This will be a tougher game but given excluding the play-offs they are unbeaten in 17 Championship matches, Chris Hughton’s team have plenty of reason to fancy their chances in this game.

One of the reasons Brighton narrowly missed out on automatic promotion last year though was their tendency to draw rather than win games, particularly on the road. They lost 4 fewer games last season than Middlesbrough who pipped them to 2nd place, and they drew over half of their away matches.

Given that stat you still have to question whether they will have enough to come here and win and therefore the value looks to be found by backing the draw at 23/10