Reading left-back Wayne Bridge makes his comeback to the side following a knee injury, while Birmingham City striker Nikola Zigic, who is yet to feature this term because of a back injury, takes his place on the bench.

On-loan Manchester United forward Jesse Lingard starts again after scoring four goals on his debut in a 4-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday last weekend.

Adam Le Fondre returns to the Reading starting lineup after only making the bench last time out in the 3-1 away win against Derby County.

Eight of today's starting XI played in Birmingham's shock 3-1 Capital One Cup win over Premier League opposition Swansea on Wednesday night.

Reading: McCarthy, Gunter, Bridge, Morrison, Pearce, Baird, Guthrie, McCleary, Robson-Kanu, Pogrebnyak, Le Fondre
Subs: Federici, Kelly, Cummings, Gorkss, Akpan, Obita, Sharp

Birmingham: Randolph; Robinson, Murphy, Burn, Reilly, Green, Spector, Adeyemi, Caddis, Burke, Lingard
Subs: Doyle, Bartley, Ferguson, Lee, Shinnie, Elliott, Zigic