Tom Cairney is hopeful that former Fulham teammates Sone Aluko and Chris Martin can fire Reading to victory over Cardiff City and help the Cottagers reach the Premier League in the process.

Fulham currently sit third in the Championship table, just one point behind second-placed Cardiff, with one game to go.

For the West Londoners to be promoted, they have to get at least a point at Birmingham City, while the Bluebirds must fail to beat Fulham's result in their home game against the Royals.

When asked by the Fulham website if Aluko would be getting some messages of encouragement in the lead-up to the weekend, midfielder Cairney replied: "He'll be getting a kiss if he does us a favour, I know that! I think he might get a few texts off the boys, even Chrissy Martin too. I'll take anyone in the Reading team helping us out, though.

"At the end of the day we've got to pick up points to stand any chance of getting promoted [automatically], so that's what we're going to try and do.

"There will be a lot of pressure on Cardiff but there's been pressure for quite a while and they've dealt with it well, to be fair to them. Whether there's a bit extra on final day, we'll see, but if we score an early goal or get ahead and the news gets to Cardiff City then that could make it a little bit edgy for them."

Fulham were last in the Premier League in 2013.