Reading v LFC: Pre-match pack

Here are all the important pre-match stats and facts ahead of our FA Cup third round visit to Reading.

The two sides are meeting in this competition for the first time ever.

Reading will be Liverpool's 96^th different opponent in the F.A. Cup - the Reds 95^th were Havant & Waterlooville two years ago.

Only Manchester United (11), Arsenal (10) and Tottenham (8) have won the trophy more often than Liverpool who like Aston Villa have lifted it seven times.

This is the seventh time in eight seasons that Liverpool have been drawn away from home in the Third Round.

Last season the Reds won 2-0 at Preston thanks to goals from Albert Riera and Fernando Torres but went out in Round Four to Everton who inflicted Liverpool's 100^th defeat in the competition.

Arsenal in 2007 were the last team to defeat in this round of the F.A. Cup while their last away defeat at this stage came in Rafa's first game in the F.A.C up - at Burnley in 2005.

Liverpool have succumbed to lower Division sides four times in the last ten seasons - Blackburn (2000), Crystal Palace (2003), Burnley (2005) and Barnsley (2008).

Dirk Kuyt has scored twice for Liverpool in this competition and both times the Reds have been knocked out. He found the net against Arsenal in 2007 and Barnsley a year later.

Fernando Torres scored his first Liverpool hat-trick on this ground in a League Cup tie in September 2007.

Yossi Benayoun scored his first Liverpool goal in the same game.

Torres has scored four goals for the Reds in three appearances against the Royals.

Benayoun's three Liverpool goals in the F.A. Cup all came against Havant & Waterlooville in 2008.

Steven Gerrard is one goal short of becoming the 14^th Liverpool player to reach ten goals in the F.A. Cup.

The Liverpool captain is one of three players who won the F.A. Cup in 2006 still at the club. The others are Pepe Reina and Jamie Carragher. Yossi Benayoun was in the West Ham side that day.

The Reds are looking to keep three clean sheets in a row for the second time this season.

They have kept four clean sheets in the last five away games - the only blemish being the 2-0 defeat at Portsmouth.

Liverpool have lost to lower Division opposition 22 times in the competition while they have gone out at this stage also on 22 occasions.

The last man to score an F.A. Cup  hat-trick away from home for the Reds was John Barnes in a Third Round tie at Crewe in 1992.

Only two players have ever scored F.A.Cup hat-tricks against Liverpool: Boag of Derby County in 1897-98 and R.Westwood of Bolton in 1945-46.

Liverpool have won both Cup meetings with today's opponents (both in the League Cup) scoring four goals on each occasion.

Liverpool have won five of the six meetings with Reading with all of those games taking place in the last four years.

At the Madejski Liverpool have won twice (in the league and League Cup) with their defeat coming in December 2007 when they went down 3-1.

Reading have never reached an F.A. Cup Final. The closest they came was in 1927 when they reached a Semi- Final at Molineux only to lose 3-0 to eventual winners Cardiff City.

They have also reached Round Five in 1929, 1935, 1998 and 2007.

Last season Reading lost at the Third Round stage going down 2-0 at Cardiff City.

They have gone beyond this stage only three times in the last 11 seasons. Their best run in that time came in 2006-07 when they made it to Round Five only to lose 3-2 at home to Manchester United in a replay.

They have been eliminated at home in five of the last seven seasons.

Their biggest ever loss came in the F.A. Cup when they were beaten 18-0 by Preston in 1894.

The last Reading player to score an F.A. Cup hat-trick was Peter Harman in a 6-1 win over Blyth Spartans in 1971-72

The club's only major honour came in 1988 when they won the Simod Cup.

Reading have scored in five of their six meetings with Liverpool in all competitions.

The Royals had two seasons in the Premier League - finishing a creditable 8^th in 2006-07. However they were relegated twelve months later.

Last season they finished 4^th in the Championship losing in the Semi-final of the Play Offs to Burnley 3-0 on aggregate.

Current midfielder Brian Howard scored the winner for Barnsley against Liverpool at Anfield as he captained his club to a 2-1 victory.

Gylfi Sigurdsson has scored in five of Reading's last eight games and is the Royals leading scorer this season with seven.

Reading have won just one of their last 20 league games at home. That came when they defeated Blackpool 2-1 in November.

In those 20 games they have scored only 12 times.

Reading have kept only one clean sheet in the last 18 games in all competitions.

They have, however, scored in each of their last ten fixtures.

They have not won in five league games since winning 2-0 at Sheffield Wednesday in early December and currently lie in 20^th place, two points and two places above the Championship relegation zone.

Scorers this season:-

Liverpool: Torres 12, Benayoun 7, Kuyt 6, Ngog 6, Gerrard 5, Babel 3, Johnson 2, Insua 1, Mascherano 1, Skrtel 1.   

Reading: Sigurdsson 7, Rasiak 6, Church 4, Bignall 2, Hunt 2, Mills 2, Mooney 2, Pearce 2, Cisse 1, Howard 1, Kebe 1, McAnuff 1, own goals 1.