Gary Rowett and his team will have to miss out on watching the Madrid derby as they prepare to face a Reading side who were a whisker away from the FA Cup Final.
Blues will go into it as underdogs, but they should be the fresher of the two teams as Reading played 120 draining minutes at Wembley. Reading are likely to make a few changes, with Chelsea youngster Nathan Ake and Palace midfielder Kwesi Appiah available again. Blues have two loan players back themselves, with Diego Fabbrini and Lloyd Dyer available again after they were unable to play against parent club Watford. Nikola Zigic is fit again and will probably start on the bench.
Gary Rowett has suggested he may trial some things tonight, but after the trouncing at St. Andrews that his team dished out it would be strange to change too much. Reading haven’t won in 6 games and Blues have won 2 games in that period, including a very impressive win against in-form Wolves, so the form would suggest an away victory – though Blues’ away form has been very poor since the turn of the year.
Predicting the result of this game is a hard task, as whilst Blues’ form is better, they struggle on their travels and neither team have anything to play for. This could be a game to test out some new systems, players and have a last look at some players before they leave.
However, as always, Keep Right On!
