Football Bet of the Day: Royals to rule at the Abbey

We ring in the New Year with an eye-catching coupon and the EFL taking centre stage. Premier League disciples have a London derby to savour between Brentford and Arsenal but that's the only top-flight action on the first day of 2025.

Away from the Gtech Community Stadium fans are poring over a myriad of match-ups from further down the pyramid and one team who catch the eye perhaps more than most are Reading in League One.

Football Odds

Reading to win at Cambridge @ 7/4

"It's nothing catastrophic but obviously it's serious."

Those were the words of Cambridge United boss Garry Monk after his side were beaten 2-0 at Leyton Orient on Sunday, a result which saw the Us stuck in 22nd spot in League One, five points adrift from safety.

And when a manager starts flying red flags with half the campaign still to run, then yes, you know it's serious.

Cambridge are in a rut, of that there's no doubt, and a visit from Reading to the Abbey Stadium probably comes at the wrong time for them.

It isn't that long ago that two divisions separated Cambridge and Reading and it's not impossible that two divisions will be the gulf between them come next August.

Reading are going well, arguably surprisingly so post-Ruben Selles, while Cambridge are clearly up against it, having lost three on the bounce.

Indeed, since pipping a Chelsea academy side 1-0 in the EFL Trophy on November 5, they have played 12 matches across three competitions and won just one of them. And that one was at home to Shrewsbury, one of only two teams below them in the division.

And Reading are a far, far better side than the Shrews.

Cambridge Utd vs Reading match betting

You get vagaries at this level, results you don't expect - who saw Burton drawing at Huddersfield on Sunday?

But you also get prices that are hard to ignore and Reading - 16 places and 20 points better off than Cambridge - look mightily attractive at 7/4.

Admittedly they do all their best work at home where they have won nine of their 11 matches, a home record that only Wrexham can better.

But Noel Hunt, after a sticky start in charge after Selles decided Hull were a better option than the Berkshire club, has enjoyed a perfect Christmas with a 4-1 drubbing of Northampton and, more impressively, a 2-1 success over Mansfield.

And their only loss in their last six away games in all competitions was 2-0 at a strong Lincoln, where Reading had ten men for over an hour following Louie Holzman's red card.

Prior to that they had drawn at Wycombe and Barnsley and won 2-1 at Peterborough, a seriously impressive trio of results that should stand them in good stead for this trip to the Abbey Stadium.

Football Bet Of The Day from Betfred Insights.

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