Exeter City will be looking to extend their impressive run of results in League One when they take on Reading at St James Park on Tuesday night.
The hosts enter this contest in fifth place in the league standings with 19 points after their first 10 games, while the visitors are 13th with 16 points over the same period.
Match preview
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While there were many questions over how they would fare following a summer of change, Exeter City are starting to defy the preseason odds, turning a rocky start to the campaign into a very good run of results.
After losing three of their first four league matches this term, the Grecians are now unbeaten in their last five, including four wins and a draw, and they could end this weekend inside the top three if they win here and results elsewhere go in their favour.
Last time out, Gary Caldwell's side earned a 2-0 victory away to Shrewsbury Town, with Kamari Doyle and Josh Magennis finding the target either side of the interval in the victory at New Meadow.
While Exeter's attack has earned plenty of plaudits this term, on-loan Crystal Palace goalkeeper Joe Whitworth has undoubtedly been the standout player for the Grecians over the last month, as he has now gone six consecutive games across all competitions without conceding.
The hosts are now aiming to win their third consecutive league home game for the first time since March 2023, while they last kept three successive clean sheets at home in February 2022.
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Meanwhile, Reading find themselves in the bottom half of the table after the first 10 games of the season, owing to a mixed run of form which includes five wins, one draw and four losses to date.
However, given how compact the mid-table is over the early stages of the campaign, a victory here could propel them into the top eight, while they also have a game in hand on most of the sides around them.
The Royals will come into this match with confidence too, having notched up a solid 4-1 victory against Crawley Town over the weekend, marking their third win in four, with a defeat to Rotherham being the only dropped points during that period.
Notably, though, that defeat to the Millers was also their only away match in that time, and the result extended their losing away streak to three in a row, following a 1-1 draw in their first match on the road this season.
While City are the side with the momentum at the moment, Reading did beat them twice in their three meetings last season, including a 3-2 victory in their most recent encounter in January this year.
Team News
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Caldwell mentioned ahead of his side's match against Shrewsbury that Demetri Mitchell and Vincent Harper have resumed partial training and are closing in on returning to full fitness.
The Exeter boss also confirmed that Reece Cole and Ed James are "doing some running on the grass", but are still several weeks away from rejoining first-team training.
Caleb Watts will join the injured quartet on the sidelines this week, as he serves the final match of his suspension for the straight red he was shown against Leyton Orient at the start of the month.
For the visitors, Jeriel Dorsett is still out after sustaining an ankle injury in the defeat to Bolton Wanderers, while club captain Andy Yiadom has not featured since April and is expected to be out for the rest of the calendar year.
David Button is likely to continue in goal with Joel Pereira having now missed the last four games with a twisted ankle, though the Portuguese shot-stopper is reportedly a week or two away from making a return to action.
Exeter City possible starting lineup:
Whitworth; Sweeney, Crama, Yfeko; McMillan, Francis, Woods, Niskanen, Aitchison, Magennis, Doyle
Reading possible starting lineup:
Button; Craig, Mbengue, Bindon, Garcia; Elliot, Wing, Savage; Wareham, Smith, Knibbs
We say: Exeter City 2-1 Reading
While Reading have been the dominant side in this fixture over the years, their away record this season has been very poor, while Exeter have been in sensational form and are gunning for a fifth straight home win.
We are expecting an entertaining match-up here but fancy they hosts to edge the result in a close contest.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Devesh Jaganath
