Preview: Manchester City vs. Reading

Manchester City host Reading on Saturday as they look to close the gap on Premier League leaders Manchester United.

City are currently six points behind United but with their Manchester rivals not in action until Sunday, Roberto Mancini's men could halve the deficit with a win against the Royals.

Mancini could decide to hand Scott Sinclair just a fifth league appearance in place of Samir Nasri, who could miss the Christmas period with a groin injury.

Reading suffered their sixth consecutive defeat on Monday night when they lost 5-2 to Arsenal.

That result meant that they remained six points adrift of safety at the bottom of the Premier League table.

Manager Brian McDermott is likely to make changes to his starting lineup, with Adam Le Fondre, who came off the substitutes' bench to score on Monday night, likely to replace Pavel Pogrebnyak.

Recent form

Manchester City: WDWDLW

Reading: LLLLLL

Possible starting lineups

Manchester City: Hart; Zabaleta, Clichy, K.Toure, Nastasic; Sinclair, Garcia, Silva, Y.Toure; Aguero, Tevez

Reading: Federici; Shorey, Mariappa, Gorkss, Cummings; Leigertwood, McAnuff, Kebe, Tabb; Le Fondre, Hunt

Sports Mole says: 4-0