The Dons will be looking to maintain their positive start to life in the Sky Bet Championship at the Madejski Stadium on Saturday.
Saturday will see the men from MK1 and Reading go head-to-head for the first time in a competitive fixture, but striker Simon Church knows all about the hosts having spent six years there between 2007 and 2013.
The opposition
The Royals responded to an opening-day reverse at Birmingham City with draws at Leeds United and Sheffield Wednesday – the latter of which saw Steve Clarke’s men have to settle for 1-1 after conceding in injury-time.
They do have a win to their name, though, a 1-0 victory at Colchester United in the first round of the Capital One Cup and will be boosted by the arrival of Alex Fernandez from Espanyol earlier this week.
Pre-match chat
Dons boss Karl Robinson told MK Dons PlayerHD: “Reading have a talented group of players and a strong squad. There will be a lot of fans attending there and they have a really good manager. It’s going to be a tall order for us to go there and get a result.
"We’ve got to go to the Madejski with excitement and confidence and not get overawed. We will have to make sure we manage our game plan right if we want to get anything out of Saturday."
Royals defender Andrew Taylor told readingfc.co.uk: "We've got a big game at home on Saturday where we will be looking to get all three points. I think we could have won by two or three on Wednesday, so we’ve got to dust ourselves down and go again.
"We defended well right from the front, the midfield, the back four and the lads that came on, everyone did their job and we were comfortable. We attack together and we defend together and I think that type of attitude will see us go a long way this season."
Team news
New signings Diego Poyet and Josh Murphy will be hoping to make their debuts after joining from West Ham United and Norwich City respectively this week.
However, the Dons will be without defender Joe Walsh (knee) and Ben Reeves (hamstring), who have both recently suffered injuries. Mark Randall is the other definite absentee as he continues his rehabilitation. Click here for a full injury update.
Meanwhile, Reading could start Spanish midfielder Alex Hernandez but fellow new recruit Paolo Hurtado is still short of match fitness.
Pavel Pogrebnyak, Dominic Samuel and Garath McCleary are definitely out but the Royals do have Tariqe Fosu back from an ankle injury.
Betting
Sky Bet
Result:
Reading win – 6/5
Draw – 9/4
Dons win – 23/10
First goalscorer:
Sam Gallagher – 13/2
Simon Church – 7/1
Dean Bowditch – 15/2
Kyle McFadzean – 25/1
Scorecast:
Rob Hall to score first and MK Dons to win 2-1 – 75/1
*All odds correct at the time of writing
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Tickets for the clash at the Madejski Stadium are now only available to buy on arrival at the ground.