Birmingham City v Reading live stream, Sky Sports, Wednesday 17 March, 7.45pm GMT
Birmingham City will be looking to boost their survival hopes when they host Reading in the Championship on Wednesday night.
Aitor Karanka’s side are in a precarious position following their 3-0 loss to Bristol City last time out. A three-point buffer above the bottom three would be too close for comfort in any circumstances, but it is especially worrying for the Blues given that Rotherham United have four games in hand on them. Victory in just one of those would see Birmingham slip into the bottom three due to their inferior goal difference.
Birmingham have spent the last five seasons battling at the wrong end of the second tier, but up to now they have always avoided the drop. There are concerns around St Andrew’s that this season could be different, particularly as only two teams in the division have conceded more goals than Birmingham.
Reading are in a much healthier position and will be looking to extend their unbeaten run to five matches here. A 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest at the weekend means they go into Wednesday’s clash in the West Midlands in fifth place in the table. With five points separating them from seventh-placed Bournemouth, the Royals will be reasonably confident of securing a play-off spot for the first time since 2016/17.
Birmingham have a fully fit squad to choose from, but Karanka could freshen up his side following the defeat by Bristol City at the weekend. Jonathan Leko is among those pushing for a start, while Gary Gardner and Sam Cosgrove could also be recalled to the line-up.
Reading hope to have Michael Morrison available for selection again soon, but this game at St Andrew’s might have come too soon for the central defender. Andy Rinomhota is set to return from a hamstring issue after the international break, but John Swift and Felipe Araruna are still a few weeks away from full fitness.
Kick-off is at 7.45pm GMT and the game is being shown on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football in the UK. See below for watching details where you are.
Use a VPN to watch a Birmingham City v Reading live stream from outside your country
If you’re on holiday or just simply out of the country, your domestic on-demand services won’t work – the broadcaster knows exactly where you are from your IP address. Your access to the game will be automatically blocked, which is annoying if you’ve paid a subscription fee and don't want to use an illegal, buffering stream that makes you miss another Jose Mourinho tantrum. And that's where we recommend ExpressVPN (more on which below).
All you need to do is get a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to get beyond such aggravations (assuming it complies with your broadcaster’s T&Cs). A VPN creates a private connection between your device and the internet, meaning suppliers can’t work out where you are and what you’re doing. The info going to and from is entirely encrypted.
There are plenty of options out there, including:
