AFC Bournemouth vs Reading Predictions

• Bournemouth have won four of their last six home Championship matches.
• Reading have lost six of their last eight away league contests.
• Bournemouth have conceded at least once in six of their last eight home league games.
• Both teams have scored in five of the last six Bournemouth matches.

Cherries pass the test after misfiring against Posh

Reading, who can see the gap to the bottom three getting smaller and smaller, are likely to sink further into trouble following Tuesday night’s trip to Bournemouth. Paul Ince’s side lost for a third straight time on Saturday and it seems that all the new manager bounce, that brought a win over Birmingham in his first game, has fallen flat very quickly.

The 4-0 defeat at the City Ground probably looks worse on paper than it was in reality because the Royals created a higher quality of chances than Nottingham Forest according to the relative xG stats. But they did cave in after the second goal to conceded two more in the next 18 minutes of a chastening afternoon by the Trent.

Bournemouth got back to winning ways at the weekend when they did a professional job on Derby County, coming just a few days after Scott Parker’s side were booed off for failing to dispatch rock-bottom Peterborough. As we know, the Championship can throw unexpected results up like that from time to time. But it’s how you bounce back that counts and the Cherries passed the test.

Reading have fallen flat and the bottom three looms

Parker’s team should have too much power in the middle of the park, pace up front and defensive knowhow to slip up for a second time in a week here. Reading have lost six of their last eight away games in the Championship and have conceded 19 goals in that span.

They have grabbed at least one goal in six of their last ten away games – a run that includes wins at Birmingham and Swansea back in November. But what makes us think that they could score at the Vitality Stadium is the fact that Bournemouth have kept only two home clean sheets in their last eight home league games.

Bournemouth to win with both teams to score has merit on that basis and, as the Cherries have scored 34 goals in their 17 home Championship games to date, we will proffer a correct score play of 2-1.