Hope Akpan excited to face former club

Hope Akpan has said that he is looking forward to returning to Goodison Park to face Everton tomorrow.

The midfielder came through the Toffees' academy before moving to Crawley Town in 2011.

The 21-year-old told the Royals' website: "Going back to where I started my career from a young age will be exciting, but I'm a Reading player now and I just want to do the best I can for this club.

"At the end of the day it's just another game. I've got to go out with the same mentality as I try and do every day.

"I'm loving life at Reading. There's a lot of differences between the leagues but I'd like to think I've done well in making the step up. The Premier League is the best league with the best players but it is a totally different style of football than the lower leagues."

Akpan joined Reading during the January transfer window.