Birmingham City Women v Reading Women
FA Women's Championship | St Andrew's Stadium
Sunday, 5 November 2023 @ 2.00pm
Birmingham City Women host Reading Women on Sunday at St Andrew's in the FA Women's Championship.
In their last league match, on October 22, Birmingham City beat Watford LFC 5-2 at home, with goals from Charlotte Devlin, Ellie Mason, Ivana Fuso, Libby Smith and Lily Agg.
Reading lost, 3-1 at home against Sheffield United Ladies, with Tia Primmer scoring their goals.
With 14 goals in eight games so far this season, Birmingham City are the league's third-highest scorers with 1.8 goals per game. And they are conceding fewer than average, letting in eight goals at a rate of 1.0 per game.
Reading, meanwhile, are below average scorers, with 1.0 goal per game, compared to a league average of 1.4. They have conceded 1.5 goals per game.
With Emily Orman between the sticks, the Royals can rely on one of the league's safest pair of hands. She has kept three clean sheets in her eight appearances this season, and only one other 'keeper – Sunderland Women's Claudia Moan – has been able to prevent the opposition scoring on more occasions in the FA Women's Championship.
In the Blues' net, Lucy Thomas has two clean sheets in eight games.
The away side are ninth in the table after eight games, of which they have won two and drawn three, earning nine points.
The hosts are three places ahead of Reading in sixth, with three wins and two draws putting them on 11 points.
In the last five years, Birmingham City and Reading have played each other on seven occasions. Birmingham City won two of them, Reading four, and they drew once.
On average, the Blues scored 1.0 goal and the Royals 1.6 in those matches.
Their last meeting was on January 23 2022, when Reading won 3-2 at home.
Birmingham City are in reasonable form in the FA Women's Championship, with three wins and two draws from their last six games.
With two wins and a draw over that period, Reading's form is worse – they have taken seven points from 18, compared to Birmingham City's 11.