Fulham will be looking to build on their slight recent improvement when they travel to the Madejski Stadium to take on Reading in the Championship this Saturday.

The Cottagers made a dreadful start to life back in the second tier, losing their opening four matches to leave themselves languishing at the bottom of the table.

They reached their nadir in a 5-1 drubbing at the hands of a ruthless Derby County, conceding four second-half goals to throw away a 1-1 scoreline.

However, the only way was up from that stage, and that has proved to be the case so far for Felix Magath's side as they won in the League Cup before picking up their first point of the season against Cardiff City in their last outing.

The German manager will be hoping that a first league victory is not much further behind, and he will have been pleased with the club's activity towards the end of the transfer window.

The most notable signing was Matt Smith, and he could be reunited with former Leeds United teammate and fellow summer recruit Ross McCormack up front this weekend.

With so many outgoings in the window, it was something of a surprise to see Bryan Ruiz stay at Craven Cottage, but the Costa Rican is unavailable this weekend due to international duty.

Aside from that, only Adam Taggart is absent for the visitors as Magath looks to pick up another result that may improve his job security that little bit more.

Reading, meanwhile, have been inconsistent in the league so far this season, picking up two victories, a draw and two defeats from their opening five matches.

The Royals edged past Middlesbrough 1-0 in their last outing, and Nigel Adkins will have been happy with his side's response to the hammering they received at the hands of Nottingham Forest a week previously.

The challenge for them now is to make it two wins in a row - something they have managed just once in the Championship since February.

Reading were one of the quieter teams in this summer's transfer window, but a deadline-day loan move for Glenn Murray has given Adkins more options up front.

Elsewhere, Adkins may be forced into using youngsters yet again, with Danny Guthrie, Stephen Kelly, Hal Robson-Kanu, Nick Blackman, Pavel Pogrebnyak, Shaun Cummings, Craig Tanner and Anton Ferdinand among those struggling with injuries.

The hosts could name an unchanged side this weekend, then, with the match winner against Middlesbrough Simon Cox leading the line alongside Jamie Mackie once again.

Recent form

Reading: WWLLWW

Fulham: LLLLWD

Possible starting lineups

Reading: Federici; Gunter, Hector, Pearce, Obita; Edwards, Kuhl, Norwood, Taylor; Cox, Mackie

Fulham: Bettinelli; Hoogland, Burn, Bodurov; Stafylidis; David, Parker, Eisfeld, Roberts; Smith, McCormack

Sports Mole says: 2-1