JAAP Stam insists all the pressure will be on Leeds United tomorrow and not his Reading FC side.

Royals head to Elland Road without a win in five Championship matches including back-to-back defeats to Millwall and Norwich City in their last two fixtures.

It means Stam’s men – who have won just two of their opening 10 league games – are languishing in 20th spot in the table.

But the Dutchman was keen to deflect the attention onto Leeds United who are fifth in the table, but have also lost their last two to Sheffield Wednesday and Cardiff City under new boss Thomas Christansen.

“These games are always intense,” stated Stam. “Leeds are a good team and it will be packed stadium up there.

“There’s pressure on them as well because they’ll want to win the game after two losses in a row.

“They play a bit differently to how they played last season so it will be interesting.”

Reading Chronicle:

Leeds boss Thomas Christiansen.

There were home wins for both Reading and Leeds when the sides clashed last season.

But Stam fell out with Leeds boss Garry Monk after their 2-0 loss at Elland Road in December when chants of ‘Boring, boring Reading’ rang out around the stadium.

However, Stam is confident that a victory tomorrow could be the kick-start Reading need to climb up the table.

“If we get a result or even a win it can change everything,” he argued. “A few times this season we’ve been close but didn’t get it.

“It’s not because of major things but small things we didn’t do like making the wrong decision or making small mistakes like not marking properly at set-pieces.

“You are always working on these things. When you are winning games it’s easier and these things go automatically.

“We’re still confident in what we need to do and that results will eventually come.

“We want to get to the point where we aren’t making these wrong decisions and we get the results we deserve.”

When asked if he was surprised how Leeds well had started, Stam added: “No. They have a new manager and owner and brought in a lot of new players. They changed the way they play a bit from last season.

“They want to go back to the Premier League and have invested a lot in the team. It’s paid off until now.”

Stam is likely to hand a first league start to Omar Richard, 19, after left-back Jordan Obita was ruled out for the rest of the season following knee surgery this week.

The likes of John Swift, Yann Kermorgant and Callum Harriott also remain unavailable as the injuries mount up for Stam.

Leeds, however, are confident Eunan O'Kane and Pontus Jansson have shaken off knocks and will start against Royals, with Caleb Ekuban (broken foot) their only notable absentee.