Bristol City boss Nigel Pearson revealed that he had the 'luxury' of leaving players out for their 2-0 win over West Brom on Tuesday.

The Robins travel to Berkshire on Saturday just one point behind the Royals, with two wins in their last three matches.

Their win at the Hawthorns contrasted Reading's disappointing 3-2 defeat to Swansea City on Tuesday, with Paul Ince's men now on a run of three successive defeats.

The first goal scorer, Joe Williams, has played just 40 times since his arrival in 2020 due to injury and former Leicester City manager Pearson was happy to be able to rotate and manage the former Wigan Athletic star's return.

Speaking to the club after the win, he said: "It was good for him to get a goal. He’s had a lot of frustrations since he’s been at the club. We’ve tried to both manage the situation to benefit him, but of course that benefits us because we have him available. That doesn’t always mean he plays. When we operate with this tight a squad it is important that we have as many players as possible available. We go into tonight’s game with the luxury of leaving players out of the squad because we have players available. There is a healthy competition."

In stark contrast, Ince has just two available senior central defenders at his disposal and will be without captain Andy Yiadom due to suspension.

Reading Chronicle:

The forward line, with the likes of Andy Carroll, Shane Long and Lucas Joao, reamins strong but the lack of options deeply hits the midfield and defence.

Speaking after the defeat in Wales, the former England captain said: "The issue's not the centre-forwards. We’ve got Shane back, Lucas and AC [Andy Carroll] but when you look at the situation with centre-backs, six weeks, seven weeks ago I was thinking we might have got Naby [Sarr] player, we’ve got Scott Dann, a plethora of centre-halves, now I’m down to Tom Holmes and Tom McIntyre. That’s going to be an issue.

"This is where we are as a club, with the embargo, it’s where we are with injuries. Tom Holmes came in and he’s had the flu last couple of days. We’re a team with a great spirit and we’ll try and win every game, so that’s what we’ll try to do on Saturday."