Cardiff v Reading: Stats suggest close encounter in Welsh capital

• Cardiff are the league's lowest goalscorers

• Reading struggle to score consistently away

• BTTS No has banked in 37/63 (59%) combined contests

Cardiff end winless run late on

Late goals from Perry Ng and Callum Robinson gave Sabri Lamouchi his first victory as Cardiff boss as the Bluebirds ended their run of 14 games without a win by beating Birmingham 2-0 at St Andrew's on Tuesday night.

In a game of few chances, Ng's brilliant free-kick put Cardiff ahead with just five minutes to play.

The Bluebirds extended their advantage in stoppage time when substitute Robinson scored a solo effort to earn the Welsh club a first success since 5 November, lifting Lamouchi's troops three points clear of the Championship relegation zone.

With goalkeeper Ryan Allsop rarely tested, Lamouchi was full of praise for his players' performance. He said, "It feels incredible. I'm so happy for my players, happy for the fans, but especially for the players. What a win, what a game, what a performance from them. We changed a lot of things, players, system, but I think they deserve that win."

The Bluebirds' bench was bolstered by the pre-match signing of Connor Wickham. But City's starting XI all pointed towards a drastic change in both formation and style.

With Ng coming in as the third centre-back and Kion Etete partnering Sory Kaba up top, Cardiff looked to take a direct approach in the Second City, and it paid dividends.

Carroll inspires Reading success

Andy Carroll's aerial prowess earned Reading their first Championship win of 2023 in midweek as the Royals clinched a late 2-1 triumph at home to relegation-threatened Rotherham.

The former Newcastle front man equalised with a towering header after the Millers had broken the deadlock, and was the hero again in the last minute of normal time.

Carroll rose once more to power a Femi Azeez cross goalwards, only this time Tyrese Fornah used his head to divert the effort home, ending a six-match streak with a win for Paul Ince's charges.

Eyebrows were raised among Reading supporters when Ince opted to name an unchanged side on Tuesday night.

Fornah, Azeez and Nesta Guinness-Walker all came off the bench and had positive impacts with Ince admitting the Royals arguably didn't deserve maximum points and appeared laboured at times during the encounter.

Ince said, "I'm not sure whether we deserved to win. I thought we started quite well in the first half but then, for some reason, we sort of came off it. At times we looked tired, we looked jaded and we couldn't get to the ball. We needed to get more up the park in the second half and that's what we did. Once we got the first goal, belief came rushing back."

Market rates Bluebirds the stronger suit

Cardiff have a poor recent league record against Reading with the Bluebirds bagging just a solitary success in their last 12 head-to-head encounters dating back to 2015 (W1-D5-L6).

The capital club are also winless in Wales across their past five fixtures with the Royals (W0-D2-L3) and have failed to keep a clean sheet in 10 when welcoming the Berkshire boys.

Cardiff 2.1211/10 pocketed only their eighth Championship victory of the campaign in midweek (W8-D8-L16), the bulk of which have been earned against the lesser lights.

The Bluebirds have posted a worrisome W4-D5-L15 against sides outside the bottom-seven, whilst only four second-tier clubs have collected fewer home points than the Bluebirds (W4-D5-L7).

Reading 4.003/1 enjoyed a fruitful start to the season, sitting third after 11 rounds of action (W11-D0-L4).

But just three Championship clubs have picked up fewer points than the Royals in the following 20 tussles (W5-D5-L10), which includes a miserable run of eight defeats in 11 on their travels (W1-D2-L8), firing blanks in each of their last three away days.

Oppose goals in the capital

Cardiff are the Championship's lowest goalscorers and have failed to find the back of the net in 15/32 (47%) of their overall league outings this term.

However, the Bluebirds have notched in 11 of 16 contests in the Welsh capital, and Sabri Lamouchi's men are entertaining a Reading side with only three shutouts to their name on their travels.

Reading have been blanked in half of their overall road trips, have collected the second-fewest points in games as guests, and also scored the second-fewest away goals this season.

And so despite positive midweek results for both sides, it makes sense to oppose a high-scoring showdown with Under 2.5 Goals understandably short at 1.684/6.

Nevertheless, we can still unearth a value price here with Both Teams To Score 'No' trading at a much more appealing 1.9010/11.

It's a wager that's won in just 37/63 (59%) of the two teams' Championship tussles, and 19/32 (59%) when viewing their respective home and away records thus far.