Huddersfield Town will be aiming to move another step closer to Championship safety when they face Reading at the Madejski Stadium on Tuesday evening.

The Terriers have gone two matches without defeat to move two points and two places above the dropzone, while Reading are six points better off in 14th after a thumping win at the weekend.

Match preview

Reading's Yakou Meite celebrates scoring the third of his four goals against Luton on July 4, 2020 © Reuters

A three-game losing run either side of the three-month hiatus had Huddersfield staring back-to-back relegations right in the face.

Town have revived their campaign with four points from their last two matches, however, following up a 3-0 win at Birmingham City with a goalless draw against Preston North End.

Danny Cowley's side are by no means safe from the drop, of course, but they appear to be over their latest slump and now have a nice set of fixtures to see out the campaign.

A second win in three matches will go a long way to securing their place in the second tier, though it is a far cry from what Huddersfield supporters were expecting this season.

Reading, likewise, have hardly had a season to remember, spending the entire campaign to date in the bottom half of the division.

Huddersfield Town's Fraizer Campbell celebrates scoring against Birmingham on July 1, 2020 © Reuters

Saturday's 5-0 thrashing of doomed Luton Town was a rare highlight for the Royals, however - Yakou Meite netting four of those goals, three of them in 18 first-half minutes.

That win lifted Reading up to 14th and now they can look up the table rather than down, with a top-half finish an attainable target.

Mark Bowen's side have won just one of their last 11 home matches in all competitions, though, so this could be an opportunity for Huddersfield to get another point on the board.

The win over Birmingham last time out on their travels ended Town's six-game wait for an away win, although they remain one of the worst teams in the division in that regard.

Reading also had the better of the reverse fixture earlier this season, prevailing 2-0 at the John Smith's Stadium thanks to goals from Ovie Ejaria and Michael Morrison.

Reading's Championship form: WWDLLW
Reading's form (all competitions): LWDLLW

Huddersfield Town's Championship form: WLLLWD

Team News

Reading's George Puscas celebrates scoring their second goal against Cardiff on August 18, 2019 © Reuters

Tommy Elphick and Jaden Brown are Huddersfield's only injury absentees, while Juninho Bacuna is serving the third and final game of his suspension.

Cowley made a couple of changes between the win over Birmingham and stalemate with Preston, including a recall for Trevoh Chalobah at right-back.

Alex Pritchard also returned to the side, but Emile Smith Rowe and Demeaco Duhaney will be hoping to return on Tuesday.

As for Reading, Bowen heavily rotated his team for the trip to Luton, making five changes in total.

Three of the back four were switched and, after such an impressive display, it may well be that the Royals stick with a winning formula.

George Puscas was also on target at Kenilworth Road and seems certain to retain his place in attack, alongside hat-trick hero Meite.

Reading possible starting lineup:
Rafael; Osho, Morrison, McIntyre, Blackett; Rinomhota, Swift; Meite, Pele, Ejaria; Puskas

Huddersfield Town possible starting lineup:
Lossl; Chalobah, Schindler, Stearman, Toffolo; Hogg, King; Kachunga, Pritchard, Grant; Campbell

We say: Reading 1-1 Huddersfield Town

Reading picked up a big win at the weekend and will be looking to climb the division in their remaining five matches. They have been pretty poor at home this term, however, and we can see Huddersfield snatching a point to boost their own survival hopes.

Data Analysis

Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Huddersfield Town win with a probability of 42.01%. A win for Reading had a probability of 31.92% and a draw had a probability of 26.1%.

The most likely scoreline for a Huddersfield Town win was 0-1 with a probability of 10.29%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.81%) and 0-2 (7.31%). The likeliest Reading win was 1-0 (8.72%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.39%). The actual scoreline of 0-0 was predicted with a 7.2% likelihood.