Who will win the top match of the Championship?
In the English Championship, it is worth taking a look at the table to draw a first interim conclusion. The season is very long and therefore it is not yet possible to speak of clear tendencies, but there are some teams, including Norwich, that have worked well so far.
Before the match Reading vs Norwich the odds indicate a favourite role for the visitors. So far Norwich also look very stable, but Reading of course also have quality in their squad and haven’t scored badly so far.
The direct duel between these two really good teams can now become very exciting. Both have great ambitions and want to be in the fight for promotion until the end.
Reading – Statistics & current form
Reading FC made changes in several positions in the summer and were looking to go big in 2022/23 with coach Paul Ince, who only took over as head coach in the middle of the year. Experience was added to the squad, with strikers Shane Long and Andy Carroll, for example, both well into their thirties, joining the club. It remains to be said, however, that the team is working quite well so far.
Saturday saw a 3-1 win over Huddersfield at home, with the 3-5-2 system working well once again. The quality on the wings is high, the crosses are accurate. The reward: 21 points from eleven games so far. That ensured that the team started the match day in third place, so the starting position should be quite good.
But now a strong opponent is on the field. And despite their third place, Reading are not yet playing with complete confidence. Three of the last five games were won, two of them were lost. Consistency is lacking, four games have already been lost – out of eleven games in total. On the positive side, however, all the other duels have been won, and the team has not yet played a draw.
Reading still concedes too many goals
The goal statistics are particularly curious. Reading have won five of their seven matches without conceding a goal. Nevertheless, they have conceded 15 goals. Why is that? Well, Reading have lost 0:4 twice and 0:3 once. Anyway, there was not one own goal in the four defeats in the league this season. Only in the cup did they manage to score a goal, despite losing 2-1 to Stevenage.
And so Reading are currently way up at the top of the Championship table with a goal difference of -2. Norwich, QPR and West Bromwich are the next opponents and after that the host will be much smarter where the journey can go. By the way, Reading are doing very well at home so far, winning five of the six home games, so the points average is 2.5.
Defensively, Reading still have some things to improve, but offensively it looks quite solid, at least they score regularly, especially at home. Due to the omens, our prediction before the Reading vs. Norwich match is that both teams will score goals.
Predicted Reading line-up:
Lumley – Yiadom, Holmes, McIntyre – Hoilett, Hutchinson, Hendrick, Ince, Ejaria – Carroll, Lucas Joao
Last matches played by Reading:
Championship
01/10/2022 – Reading 3 – 1 Huddersfield
17/09/2022 – Wigan 0 – 1 Reading
15/09/2022 – Reading 0 – 3 Sunderland
04/09/2022 – Reading 2 – 1 Stoke
31/08/2022 – Sheffield United 4 – 0 Reading
Norwich – Statistics & current form
Norwich City want to get back into the Premier League and are working hard to do so. The season start of the quite young team with an average age of just over 25 years was very decent. The Canaries have 23 points after eleven games, which puts them two points ahead of Reading and second in the table behind Sheffield United.
On Saturday, the Canaries celebrated an away victory, a 1-0 win at Blackpool, in which especially defensively a lot worked. The attacking duo of Pukki and Sargent, both ex-Bundesliga players, are particularly strong. They already have ten goals and three assists to their name, which is a very solid record at this point. However, apart from these two players, no player in the visitors’ squad has more than one goal to his name.
Nevertheless, coach Dean Smith’s team works very well. Perhaps there is still some catching up to do when it comes to options from the bench. That hasn’t been a factor in recent weeks, however, as Norwich have gone unbeaten for six games, winning five of those matches.
Norwich are defensively solid
In any case, the visitors have stabilised very well after starting the season with just one point from three games. In the EFL Cup there was a defeat in the 2nd round against Bournemouth after a win against Birmingham before, but in the league Norwich is the team of the hour. This is also due to a good defence. Nine goals conceded in eleven games represented a good rate, especially in the bulky and intense league.
Three times the visitors have played to nil, only twice did Norwich concede more than one goal. These are very good figures. In the last few years, it was often the teams that had good defensive statistics that ended up in the play-off places. After the impressive series of the last few weeks, our value tip before the Reading vs Norwich game is that the visitors will win.
Predicted Norwich line-up:
Krul – Aarons, Hanley, Gibson, Byram – McLean, Nunez, Ramsey, Hernandez, Sargent – Pukki
Last matches played by Norwich:
Championship
01/10/2022 – Blackpool 0 – 1 Norwich
17/09/2022 – Norwich 1 – 1 West Bromwich
15/09/2022 – Norwich 3 – 2 Bristol City
03/09/2022 – Norwich 3 – 0 Coventry
31/08/2022 – Birmingham 1 – 2 Norwich
Reading – Norwich Direct comparison / H2H balance
33 Matches these two teams have played against each other so far. Norwich have won 14 of those games, Reading are on ten wins. So there is no clear trend in that respect. The last time the two met was in 2020/21, when Norwich won both games (4:1; 2:1).
Reading – Norwich Tip
Reading has played a decent season so far, but still lacks a bit in terms of consistency. Norwich is the team of the moment and in good form. So the conditions are clear, the guests have a slight advantage.
Because both teams have a lot of quality offensively and Reading score well, especially at home, our tip before the Reading vs Norwich game is that both teams will score.
