All-time results record (League, FA Cup and League Cup)

FA Cup meetings

Albion have faced each other four times in the FA Cup. The Baggies won the first meeting 2-0 at home in January 1948, when goals from Roy Finch and George Drury beat the Royals in front of a 30,241 crowd. The two sides met at the same stage of the competition in 2006 when Kevin Doyle's 84^th-minute penalty cancelled out Zoltan Gera's spot-kick two minutes earlier at The Hawthorns. In the replay at the Madejski Stadium ten days later Richard Chaplow's double gave Albion a 2-0 half-time lead. But Leroy Lita notched twice to take the game to extra-time and fired the winner three minutes into the first period to complete his hat-trick. When the club's met 11 days ago, Jimmy Kebe's early opener was cancelled out by Robert Koren's strike. Substitute Simon Church then put the hosts back in front before Joe Mattock's 87^th-minute equaliser - his first-ever Baggies goal - took the tie to a replay.

Interesting facts

Baggies striker Simon Cox was a 101^st-minute substitute for hat-trick hero Leroy Lita in Reading's 3-2 FA Cup third-round replay extra-time win over Albion in January 2006.

Jimmy Kebe broke the deadlock after just 9.5 seconds - believed to be the fastest-ever goal in the FA Cup's 'proper' rounds - in the meeting between the two sides 11 days ago.

Last time out

Home - Football League Championship (October 17, 2009) Albion 3 (Thomas 2, Mulumbu) Reading 1 (Mills)

Away - Football League Championship (May 1, 2004) Reading 1 (Sidwell) Albion 0

Home - English FA Cup Third round (January 17, 2006) Albion 1 (Gera pen) Reading 1 (Doyle pen)

Away - English FA Cup Fifth round (February 13, 2010) Reading 2 (Kebe, Church) Albion 2 (Koren, Mattock)

Route to the FA Cup fifth-round

Albion: Third round - Huddersfield 0 Albion 2 (Dorrans, Wood). Fourth round - Albion 4 (Olsson, Dorrans 2 [2 pens], Thomas) Newcastle 2 (Carroll 2)

Reading: Third round - Reading 1 (Church) Liverpool 1 (Gerrard); Liverpool 1 (Bertrand og) Reading 2 (Sigurdsson, Long) - AET. Fourth round - Reading 1 (Sigurdsson) Burnley 0

Form guide (last six league matches)

Albion: LDWWWW

Reading: LWWWWL

Last league match line-ups

Albion (v Bristol City): Carson; Zuiverloon (Wood 79), Tamas, Olsson, Mattock; Brunt, Koren (Cox 62), Mulumbu, Dorrans, Nouble (Slory 56); Bednar. Subs not used: Kiely (gk), Moore, Meite, Thorne.

Reading (v Blackpool): Federici, Mills, Griffin, Bertrand, Khizanishvili, McAnuff, Howard, Kebe, Karacan (Rasiak 63), Gunnarsson (Sigurdsson 32), Church (Thorvaldsson 54). Subs not used: Hamer (gk), Tabb, Pearce, Robson-Kanu.

Ref watch

Lee Mason will referee tonight's match at The Hawthorns against The Royals. The Lancashire official last oversaw Albion in their 2-0 Carling Cup third-round defeat at Arsenal in September when he sent-off Jerome Thomas after 37 minutes. So far this season Mason has dished out 82 yellow cards and five red cards in 27 games.

Betting

If you fancy a flutter on this game with the club's official online bookmaker, bet365, click here.

Selected odds:

Albion to win 7/10

Reading to win 4/1

Draw 13/5

Simon Cox to score first 5/1

Simon Church to score first 9/1

Tickets

Tickets for this game are still on general sale at reduced prices. For full ticket details, click here.

Listen to live match commentary on Albion Player

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