Saints should head to the Mad Stad with every confidence of making this our third away win of the season.
Saints head for the showdown with ex Saints boss Nigel Adkins with nothing to fear but fear itself, the great win over Chelsea aligned with Reading's beating at the Emirates perhaps shows who should be the team capable of taking all three points from the game, Nigel Adkins clearly hasnt got that much to work with in taking over the Royals and ironically he could now suffer for the groundwork he has put in at St Mary's in the first half of the season.
After a glut of wins a month or so ago Reading have now lost six on the bounce in the league and there is no reason why we should not make it seven, a result which would in effect virtually ensure our safety, but mean that Reading our as good as heading back to the Championship.
Of course Reading overhauled us in the final run in last season and there are those that remember their win at St Mary's and for that reason fear them, but last season was a long time ago, the defeat was the result of some appalling defending more than anything and if we can rid ourselves of that then we are more than capable of beating the Royals, dont forget on our last visit we earned a credible draw, coming back from 1-0 down and down to ten men, Reading are a club in turmoil and we should make the most of it, is there a place we would prefer to visit more than the Mad Stad in this division, should say not.
Readings success last season was based on the smash and grab that they so perfectly displayed at St Mary's and we still have to watch out for that, but the fact is they are bottom for a reason and even theri couple of wins were achieved in smash and grab style one being a comeback in the final period of the home match with West Brom to claw back a two nil deficit and win with two goals in the final minutes, they score a few at home, 23 goals being better than most in the bottom third of the table and indeed only one behind our total at SMS and incredibly one more than Spurs have notched at White Hart Lane, but they concede a few too and 29 against only sees Wigan having conceded more at home, put bluntly we should be relishing this game and ready to put them to the sword.