ALI Al-Habsi faces a bittersweet afternoon when Reading FC host Wigan Athletic tomorrow (3pm ko), writes Jack Simpson.

The 35-year-old keeper knows that if Royals win or draw against the Latics they will be assured of a place in the Championship play-offs.

But he is also aware than anything other than victory for Wigan will send his former club down to League One.

However, the Oman stopper is ready to put personal loyalties aside and focus on sealing a top-six finish with Jaap Stam's men.

Al-Habsi, who made 136 league appearances for the Latics between 2010-15, many of them in the top-flight, said: “It's not the right time to play them because Wigan have been struggling and really need to win the game.

“It's sad to see them in that position, especially after the five years I spent with them.

“I really enjoyed my time there and I have a fantastic relationship with the fans and everyone at the football club.

“I still look out for their results and even Bolton's, I am always following them.

“But for us, we have a job to do which is win this next game. We need one more point from the last two games, but we need to go out and win to show that we are a good team.

“We've had a fantastic season at home after winning 15 matches out of 22 and we need to continue that.

“For us, it's really important to be very strong going into the play-offs, especially at home.”

Reading Chronicle:

Al-Habsi in action for Wigan Athletic, here denying Liam Feeney of Bolton Wanderers, another of his former clubs, in an FA Cup clash in 2015.

Reading will be heavily backed to claim the point they need against a Wigan side one place off the bottom of the table.

Royals have lost just twice at Madejski Stadium in the league this season, though Al-Habsi admits they must put in a better display than last Saturday when they crashed 3-2 at Nottingham Forest.

“Every time we have lost a game we have come back stronger in the next game,” he insisted. “For 55 minutes against Forest we didn't show ourselves.

“We performed for half and hour and scored two goals but couldn't get a third, which would have taken the pressure off the Wigan game.

“This is the situation we are in, we just have to go out there on Saturday and win.”

While Reading's home firm this season has been excellent, Stam's men have lost five of their last seven away fixtures including a 7-1 hammering at Norwich City.

But Al-Habsi insisted: “It doesn't play on our minds, we don't need to think too much about these games against Norwich and Nottingham Forest.

“We have also beaten Sheffield Wednesday and Aston Villa away recently which were big positives for us.

“Sometimes you will get a heavy defeat like Norwich in a season and we know why we lost that game, we didn't play as a team from the start.

“All we can do now is concentrate on these next two games and the play-off which is always different because you play home and away in a short space of time and anything can happen.

“But we don't need to worry about the play-offs yet, we need to concentrate on Wigan and Burton after that.

“We will try and get six points, but we need to work really hard for it.”

Head-to-head record:

The last five meetings between Reading and Wigan at Madejski Stadium:

February 17, 2015: Reading 0 Wigan Athletic 1, Sky Bet Championship.

Wigan secured their first win since the previous December with a 1-0 victory.

Jason Pearce grabbed a 17th-minute winner on his Latics debut after Royals keeper Adam Federici had fumbled Leon Clarke's header.

Ali-Al-Habsi also made a string of fine saves to keep Wigan in front before joining Reading later that year.

The result saw Wigan move to within six points of safety, while Reading dropped down to 17th place in the table.

December 21, 2013: Reading 1 Wigan Athletic 2, Sky Bet Championship.

Wigan celebrated their second successive win under former boss Uwe Rosler.

Chris McCann put the Latics in front by heading past Alex McCarthy.

Nick Powell doubled the visitors' lead following Alex Pearce's defensive error.

Reading rallied after the break but Billy Sharp fired a penalty over the Wigan bar before Pavel Pogrebnyak's superb header pulled one back.

The Russian striker also hit the woodwork, but it was too little, too late.

February 23, 2013: Reading 0 Wigan Athletic 3, Barclays Premier League.

Reading's hopes of staying in the Premier League received a blow after defeat to their relegation rivals, who climbed out of the drop zone with this win.

Arouna Kone fired Wigan in front and then added a second soon after to put the visitors 2-0 up.

A nightmare afternoon for Brian McDermott's Royals continued when Maynor Figueroa added a third before Pavel Pogrebnyak was sent off for a nasty challenge on the same Wigan player.

January 30, 2007: Reading 3 Wigan Athletic 2, Barclays Premier League.

Reading came from a goal down to condemn Wigan to a club record eighth consecutive league defeat.

Emile Heskey fired Wigan into an early lead then Caleb Folan hit Royals' crossbar.

But Steve Coppell's Royals levelled through Ivar Ingimarsson before Shane Long's header put them 2-1 up.

Leroy Lita fired home from close range for Reading's third before Denny Landzaat notched a second for Wigan after Marcus Hahnemann had spilled Ryan Taylor's free kick.

November 27, 2004: Reading 1 Wigan Athletic 1, Coca-Cola Championship.

Wigan lost top spot in the Championship after they were held at Madejski Stadium.

Latics midfielder Alan Mahon fired the visitors ahead from a Jimmy Bullard assist.

But Reading grabbed a point when Lloyd Owusu powerfully headed Glen Little's deep cross into the top left-hand corner.