Reading v Preston: Both sides won't oblige in Berkshire

• Reading and Preston have kept 17/37 combined clean sheets
• BTTS No has banked in 11/18 home/away dates
• Attritional affair could be on the cards

Reading pick up a point at Luton

Reading boss Paul Ince praised his side for their 'battling performance' as they secured a well-earned point following a 0-0 draw at Luton on Tuesday night. Andy Carroll and Yakou Meite both had decent chances for the Royals, while Tom Ince, Jeff Hendrick and Shane Long all went close in the closing stages at Kenilworth Road.

However, Ince's side had to make do with a share of the spoils in a largely uninspiring encounter, collecting a sixth Championship clean sheet for the season.

Ince said: "I'm pleased with the clean sheet but disappointed we weren't clinical enough because we had some great chances. It was a great performance because a clean sheet here is never easy. To come here after the disappointment of Saturday, we put in a battling performance and at times we played some decent stuff."

Reading made two changes to their starting XI with Junior Hoilett and Carroll coming in for Tom McIntyre and the suspended Mamadou Loum. The latter is available again for the Royals but they are still without centre-back options Sam Hutchinson, Scott Dann, Liam Moore and Naby Sarr.

Preston earn Tuesday triumph

Brad Potts' first-half goal was enough for Preston to claim a third Championship success in four fixtures, and lift the Lilywhites to within touching distance of the top-six as North End overcame Swansea 1-0 at Deepdale on Tuesday night.

Potts stroked home after Swansea centre-back Harry Darling failed to clear. The visitors pushed hard for a second-half equaliser, enjoying 72% possession in the game but were contained throughout by North End who carried out their gameplan to perfection. PNE goalkeeper Freddie Woodman claimed an 11th league clean sheet of the campaign.

Post-match, Ryan Lowe hailed his side's tactical performance: "I thought we got it spot on. I thought the character, the resilience and the desire shown from the group to see it through was fantastic. Swansea are a good team who always see plenty of the ball; so for us to keep them to four [shots] on-target - the same as us - is very satisfying."

Ched Evans and Andrew Hughes come back into the starting XI, with Ben Woodburn and Alvaro Fernandez missing out as Lowe changed the shape of his side to 3-5-2 after setting-up in a 4-3-3 system last Saturday.

Tough contest to call

Reading have enjoyed their recent head-to-head league encounters with Preston - the Royals have seven triumphs in the last nine meetings, including doing the double over North End last season (W7-D1-L1). The hosts have also suffered just two defeats in 22 battles against the Lilywhites in Berkshire (W15-D5-L2), the most recent being 2020.

Reading 2.466/4 were amongst the ante-post favourites for relegation yet Paul Ince's outfit start the weekend just two points adrift of the play-off places thanks largely to a strong record on home soil (W6-D1-L2). Even so, the Royals have registered just W1-D2-L4 since the start of October and have also earned 69% of their points tally against the bottom-half.

Preston 3.11211/100 have slowly started to climb the Championship rankings, winning five of their past eight, as well as earning victories in three of their last four outings. North End have been beaten on only five occasions this season with Ryan Lowe's outfit returning W4-D3-L2 on the road, keeping a remarkable six clean sheets in the process.

Oppose goals in Berkshire

Under 2.5 Goals 1.684/6 is understandably heavily favoured by the market. A huge 15/19 (79%) of Preston's previous Championship matches this term have featured fewer than three goals with the visitors' contests averaging just 1.53 goals per-game. However, Reading aren't quite so stingy with 10/18 (56%) tussles producing 3+ strikes.

Still, the duo have collectively kept 17 shutouts in their combined 37 overall encounters, with nine clean sheets in their 18 respective home/away games. Unsurprisingly, 11 (61%) of those 18 match-ups delivered successful Both Teams To Score 'No' selections and a repeat holds plenty of appeal at 1.9010/11 quotes. It could be an attritional affair.