While the race for the playoffs remain as close as ever, both clubs know that they could drop off the pace with a defeat on Friday. With that in mind, do not be surprised to see a low-scoring draw played out at St Andrew's, a result which would suit the visitors far more than their hosts.
Read more.
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Birmingham City win with a probability of 43.33%. A win for Reading had a probability of 28.73% and a draw had a probability of 27.9%.
The most likely scoreline for a Birmingham City win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.98%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.47%) and 2-0 (8.44%). The likeliest Reading win was 0-1 (10.02%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.03%). The actual scoreline of 3-2 was predicted with a 1.8% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Birmingham City would win this match.
0.02) 
-0.01) 
