Reading v Palace

Madejski Stadium, Saturday 3.00pm

Kyle De Silva

Team news

Midfielders Kagisho Dikgacoi (thigh), Mile Jedinak (groin), Jonathan Williams (hamstring) and defender Anthony Gardner (hamstring) are all sidelined.

It means youngsters Kyle De Silva, Kwesi Appiah, Antonio Pedroza and Stuart O'Keefe are likely to be involved on Saturday.

Reading manager Brian McDermott, who guided his team to the Premier League on Tuesday, will be without a number of players.

Jem Karacan (ankle), reserve goalkeeper Mikkel Andersen (knee) and (quad) are missing. Jimmy Kebe, Matthew Connolly (ankle) plus Hal Robson-Kanu and Jay Tabb (rib) are doubts.

Quotes

Roy Hodgson

"I admire them a lot. Reading have done it in a way that suits this division. I wouldn't say they are always fantastic on the eye but they are a determined bunch that have pulled together after last year's play-off disappointment.

"Brian McDermott has done a fantastic job. He has signed key players at key times. I looked at Kaspars Gorkss and Matthew Connolly but they were far too expensive for us. And in January they got Jason Roberts, which is pretty much the way to do it.

"They win games when out of possession - like Chelsea did against Barcelona - and you have got to admire that. They aren't always pretty but they grind out results. Brian knows this division and knows what is needed to get out of it. His squad is full of strong characters with a great work ethic.

"Anthony Gardner's hamstring was nearly away from the bone. It was very serious and is a grade one hamstring. You're talking about three months out. He'll have to spend the whole summer doing rehab. Hopefully he'll be able to start back in pre-season.

"We understand where we are going and if we can keep that strong, united club then we will move forward. As long as everybody pulls together and heads in the right direction we will eventually get there.

"If anybody is negative around me or the club then I will put them straight – we cannot have whispers within the club or within the stand of what we are trying to do. We must all understand that, over the next three or four years I will get the team to where it belongs.

"We can’t go out there and spend big money, we have to either pinch lower league players, get players from abroad or produce young players and we are trying to have a mix of that."

Reading - league stats

Position	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points
1st	44	27	7	10	88

Full league table

Reading - current form

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against
6	6	0	0	14	4

Full form table

Last five results

Date	Type	Home Team	Score	Away Team
29/10/2011	League	Crystal Palace	0 - 0	Reading
26/02/2011	League	Crystal Palace	3 - 3	Reading
11/09/2010	League	Reading	3 - 0	Crystal Palace
17/02/2010	League	Crystal Palace	1 - 3	Reading
08/12/2009	League	Reading	2 - 4	Crystal Palace

All time results

Last meeting

Palace 0-0 Reading

Saturday October 29 2011

Palace: Speroni, Gardner, Wright, McCarthy, Clyne, Williams (Parr, 81), Moxey, Scannell (Ambrose, 77), Jedinak, Murray, Zaha

Subs not used: Price, Easter, Dikgacoi

Bookings: Zaha

Reading: Federici, Gorkss, Pearce, Mills, Cummings, McAnuff, Leigertwood, Karacan, Robson-Kanu (Kebe, 72), Le Fondre, Church (Hunt, 71)

Subs not used: McCarthy, Harte, Manset

Bookings: Mills, Karacan, McAnuff, Robson-Kanu