On Friday night, live on the Sky Sports cameras, Reading travel to Birmingham to face newly promoted Coventry City in the hope of extending their unbeaten start to nine matches.

Below we look at what you should know about the Sky Blues ahead of the match.

Recent Background

Coventry City are a side steeped in history and tradition, with the club having had 34 consecutive years in the top flight between 1963 and 2001.

Unfortunately in recent years it has been the off-field stories making the headlines; with the team currently playing at St. Andrews in Birmingham, the second time this decade that the club have been forced to play outside the city they represent.

Thankfully good news seems on the horizon, with the University of Warwick agreeing to provide land for the club to build a new stadium.

The side won the FA Cup in 1987, but ever since the turn of the Millennium it has been downhill.

Relegated from the Premier League in 2001, the club had just two top-half finishes in the Championship before relegation to League One in 2012.

Relegation to League Two followed in 2017, however the side did win the EFL Trophy, leaving the side at their lowest league position since 1959.

Under former Royal Mark Robins the side bounced straight back up to League One through the play-offs.

2018/19 was a consolidation year in which they finished eighth before winning League One last season.

This year has been a struggle, with the side sitting in the relegation zone with one win from their opening eight games.

Key Players

The side is mainly unchanged from the one which won promotion last season.

According to WhoScored, the Sky Blues most frequently line up in a 3-4-2-1 formation.

Goalkeeper Marosi played the majority of last season, and has been the first choice this year too.

The number one, and the defensive unit of Kyle McFadzean, Leo Ostig and former Royal Dominic Hyam have conceded a joint high of 16 goals so far this season.

Wing-backs Sam McCallum and Ryan Giles will offer extra support out wide but are much more comfortable going forward.

Fakanty Dabo is another Coventry youngster who has caught the eye under Robins, a fast attacking wing-back he will certainly cause Reading problems if he is picked.

Gustavo Hamer and Ben Sheaf are both defensive-minded midfielder who will no doubt prefer to sit in and around the centre-circle, allowing Jordan Shipley and Callum O’Hare to support Matt Godden up top.

Shipley and O’Hare were two stand-out performers in League One last season, and certainly have the potential to make the grade at this level.

Godden has three goals to his name so far, making him the sides top scorer, but will be aided by former Nottingham Forest youngster Tyler Walker, son of legend Des.

Previous Meetings

With the two sides having occupied different divisions for most of the last decade, the last time these two met was in Reading’s title-winning season of 2011/12.

A 1-1 draw at the Ricoh Arena and a 2-0 win at the Madejski helped Brian McDermott’s men on their way to the Championship crown, whilst contributed to Coventry being relegated.

The most famous meeting came back in 1988 as the two sides met in the Simod Cup Semi-Final at Elm Park.

An crowd of over 15,000 packed into the beloved old ground to witness history as Reading reached Wembley for the first time in the clubs history at the expense of the First Division side.

Neil Smilie opened the scoring before David Speeide equalised.

The game went to penalties and Michael Gilkes’ winner sparked incredible scenes.

It remains the latest finish of a Reading match, due to a delayed kick-off, with the final whistle blown at 22.38pm.

Overall the teams have met 62 times, the first being a 2-2 draw in 1908.

Reading have won 27 times, drawn 17 and lost 18.

Odds

According to Sky Bet, Coventry are 12/5, a draw is 2/1 and a Reading win is 13/10.