Season › 2012-13 › News Reading vs Everton Lyndon Lloyd , 17 November, 11comments | Jump to most recent Match Preview The frustrating sequence of draws — not to mention Nikica Jelavic's mini-drought — ended by victory over Sunderland at Goodison Park last Saturday, Everton resume their quest to keep hold of the coat tails of the top three with a trip south to Reading. David Moyes has done his standard "we're skint" dance to the media as they start up the rumour mill despite the New Year being still seven weeks away, but Evertonians have experienced enough barren transfer windows to know that there's not much point dwelling too much on the prospects of new faces until the time comes. That means team and fans alike focusing on the players available and backing them to just keep on plugging away with the impressive form Everton have been in this season and picking up as many points as possible. The task has already been compromised by the extended absence of Darron Gibson and the Irishman will be missing from a 10th successive game in all competitions when the Blues take on the winless Royals this weekend as he continues a protracted fitness battle against his injured thigh tendon. Article continues below video content Even more damaging is the loss of Kevin Mirallas who, unlike Everton's last away day at Fulham, will not recover in time from injury sustained the previous weekend. The Belgian wizard suffered a minor tear to his hamstring in the 2-1 win over Sunderland and is ruled out. Tony Hibbert (calf) and Victor Anichebe (hamstring) will undergo late fitness tests, however, to assess their readiness to return to action but with the exception of Steven Naismith coming in for Mirallas on the right flank, no changes are expected to Moyes's starting line-up at the Madjeski Stadium. Bryan McDermott, who is very likely to be without the pacy Jimmy Kebe as well as Alex McCarthy, Danny Guthrie and Jem Karacan, has seen his side draw four of their five home games so far this season and that will no doubt give Moyes hope that his men can grab all three points like they did on their visit to this ground six years ago. They stand a great chance if they can play anything like the way they did at Craven Cottage a fortnight ago but they will also need to stamp out their habit of conceding the opening goal. The Blues haven't won an away game where they've let in the first goal in 10 matches now. With this eminently winnable game and back-to-back home games to follow before the end of the month, Everton have a great opportunity to get points on the board before they trip to the Etihad Stadium on 1st December. That game against the Champions, while it represents a terrific opportunity to atone for last season's surrender, will clearly be the Blues' most daunting fixture thus far but the added confidence that would come from going into the game breathing down Mancini's men's necks in the table could be invaluable. Kick off: 3pm Referee: Martin Atkinson » Read more Global TV coverage Live Matchday Forum Reader Comments (11) Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer Ole Martin Kolberg 1 Posted 17/11/2012 at 01:06:47 COYB, 3 points please! Gareth Fieldstead 2 Posted 17/11/2012 at 01:08:21 Good article as usual then you go and spoil it all by adding who the ref is! I fancied our chances until then! No tackling lads! Yew Heng Hung 3 Posted 17/11/2012 at 02:09:29 Two-nil to Everton. Phil Sammon 5 Posted 17/11/2012 at 09:32:16 I'm glad Kebe is out. I've always thought he's a good player. Too good for Reading's bench anyway. No Miralles and Gibson misses out again. I know some on here don't agree but I think Naismith is a good player and will step in and do well. A bigger concern is Pienaar's form. He's normally so dependable. I don't know if he'll stay there once we get Gibson and Hibbert back, but I believe a special mention should go to Seamus Coleman. The lad has really surprised me. Preciously he had looked like a decent Championship winger. Now I'm quite confident he can be our right back for some years. His defensive frailties are there for all to see but going forward he is a breath of fresh air. His crossing has improved dramatically too, which has been a long-standing problem from our right side for some years. David Hallwood 6 Posted 17/11/2012 at 10:51:24 The continuing absense of Gibson is a worry and I have wonder heve we lost him for most of the season, because how long will it take him to get up to speed. Still as the report stated an eminently winnable game, but there's one name on the teamsheet that worries me-Martin Atkinson Paul Smith 7 Posted 17/11/2012 at 12:18:57 According to the BBC, I don't think the game's even on this weekend... I will explain: For the past two days, every time the BBC has shown a fixture list for the Prem this weekend, the Blues and Reading game is missing, I had to double check it was defo on the 17th! I'm sure TWebbers and the OS are well informed; apparently more so than the BBC, because they have just done it again!It does no good for my Evertonian inferiority complex. Mike Oates 8 Posted 17/11/2012 at 12:31:42 Heard/seen on a couple of reports that Neville is injured? Ciarán McGlone 9 Posted 17/11/2012 at 12:56:55 If Neville is out, it will be interesting to see how Moyes adapts... Jim Knightley 10 Posted 17/11/2012 at 12:54:31 I think Pienaar, with Mirallas out, and in his preferred wide left position, will play better today...I think his recent less impressive form is because of 1) position changing 2) because Mirallas has become our creative attacking focal point. We should have enough to beat Reading...I don't want to see Neville injured though...he has been poor in a few games, but is disciplined, and I think the loss of him, given Mirallas' and Gibson's injuries, could be a bit problematic because we don't have many who can come in. Saying that, I think Hitzelsperger must be getting near ready to start a match? I just really do not want Fellaini to drop back, as I am of the opinion that he has been so impressive this season, because of playing higher up the field consistently (and helped by the additions of better attacking players). I am also worried about Gibson..would be nice to hear official confirmation of his current position, unless I've missed it? I remember Rosicky, was predicted to be out for 3 weeks a few seasons back...and he didn't play again for 18months. I'm sure it is nothing to serious, but it is always worrying when a player with a bad injury record, is out for much longer than initially suggested. Steve Edwards 11 Posted 17/11/2012 at 13:58:08 It's a shame about Gibson, Man Utd let him go for small fee because they new he was a crock. He had missed half season for Utd before he came to us. So don't be getting your hopes up too much. The likelyhood is he come back play a few games and then he will be out again. It's a shame but that's the way it will probably pan out. Steavey Buckley 12 Posted 18/11/2012 at 13:27:42 It's the same old story: Everton play an opposition who have all of the players at home training and focusing for the match, while Everton are waiting for most of their players to return home after playing for their countries as far as Costa Rica. That's why Everton 'ran' out of steam yesterday in the second half. Add Your Comments In order to post a comment, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site. » Log in now Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and Talking Points submissions across the site. About these ads