Reading will officially end Wolves’ hopes of matching their record-breaking 106 points tally if they can pull off a shock at Molineux tonight.
Wolves have topped the Championship for months and will be expected to extend their lead with victory over Jaap Stam’s strugglers this evening (7.45pm).
However, just a point for the Royals would not only boost their survival chances, but also preserve their all-time Championship record from the 2005/06 campaign.
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Form
Despite topping the league, Wolves have struggled in recent weeks and have seen their lead cut to just three points ahead of Cardiff City.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s men have picked up just five points in their past five fixtures, culminating in a 4-1 hammering at rivals Aston Villa on Saturday.
But that is one better than Reading, who have only four points from their five matches and their poor run extended to one win in 16 league games since November with a 2-2 draw against Leeds United on Saturday.
That saw the Royals drop to 19th in the table, but a point clearer of the relegation zone.
Team news
Stam again made changes on Saturday, bringing Leandro Bacuna, Tiago Ilori and Jon Dadi Bodvarsson into the side and he is likely to make a couple more this evening.
Chris Martin should return after a bout of illness ruled him out against Leeds while Yann Kermorgant is “very close” to a return to the squad. Paul McShane, Tommy Elphick and Omar Richards remain unavailable through injury.
What they said
Stam: “It’s not like we go to Wolves and think they’ve got a great squad, they’ve been doing very well, they are probably going to win the league so there’s not a chance to win over there.
“Even against a team like that, I think at times you’re going to get opportunities to play and be a threat going forwards.
“We’re not going to go there and say this is a game we’re going to be losing anyway so we’ll target the Norwich game on Saturday.
“When we’re playing Wolves, we want to do well and play in our own way. It’s not going to be easy but it’s good for the morale and it’s good for the confidence of the players as well if you play against a good side like that and you can do well and get a result.”
Wolves defender Conor Coady: “It’s getting to an important time of the year as everybody knows and we need to get back to winning ways, and quick.
“We’ve got to put the defeat to Villa behind us. We’ve got a huge game on Tuesday – it’s massive.
“We need everybody to pull together including the supporters, the players and obviously the staff. We’ve got to go into Tuesday now all guns blazing.
“We know what we’ve got to do, we know we’ve got to win the game – we know it’s all about winning games now.
“There’s ten games to go and it’s massive for this football club to not lose this position.
“We’ve got to put it right on Tuesday, that’s all we’ve got to do – go out and win the game and move on.”
Previous meetings
The return fixture at Madejski Stadium in November saw Wolves come away 2-0 victors thanks to goals from Ivan Cavaleiro and Matt Doherty, but the hosts could consider themselves unfortunate after creating a number of good chances.
The last time Reading went to Molineux, Wolves again won 2-0 back in August 2016 with Doherty again on target.
Royals do have some good recent memories at that stadium with a 3-0 win in 2008 with Kalifa Cisse and Andre Bikey on target as well as a 2-1 win in 2015 when Danny Williams scored the winner.
Overall, Reading have beaten Wolves 17 times, lost 19 and drawn 7.
Who else is in action?
There are six Championship games this evening, all of which were postponed due to snow a couple of weekends ago.
Fellow strugglers Barnsley host Norwich, Hull City go to Ipswich Town and Burton Albion travel to Sheffield United.
If Wolves lose to Reading, they could see their gap at the top disappear if Cardiff can win at Brentford. The other game sees Aston Villa host QPR.
Odds
Unsurprisingly, Wolves are huge favourites to win this evening, priced at 4/11.
Reading are huge underdogs at 9/1 to pull off a victory while the draw is priced at 7/2.
Jon Dadi Bodvarsson is available at 10/1 to be the first scorer against his old club.
