Preview: Reading v Reds

Liverpool get their 2009-10 FA Cup campaign up and running against Reading at the Madejski Stadium this evening.

The Reds have won the trophy on seven occasions, with the 2006 success still very much fresh in the memory thanks to Steven Gerrard's heroics in Cardiff.

Liverpool have met Reading six times, winning five of them, though the Royals claimed a 3-1 victory on Rafa Benitez's side's last visit to the Madejski.

The last meeting between the two sides came in the Barclays Premier League in March 2008 when goals from Javier Mascherano and Fernando Torres secured a 2-1 win for the Reds at Anfield.

The opposition

Reading occupy 20th position in the Championship and have won just one league game at home so far this term.

The Royals are currently without a full-time manager following the departure of Brendan Rogers in December. Brian McDermott is the acting caretaker boss.

Reading come into the tie on the back of a 4-1 defeat at Plymouth on Monday.

Following that loss, McDermott said: "We had a really bad day and I am really disappointed. If you come to a place like this and don't win your individual battles that will happen

"The fact that they have outfought us hurts, it hurts more than anything. Losing is one thing but being outfought is another, that's the most disappointing thing.

"Plymouth have come out on top in headers, tackles, movement, the basics of football. I don't know where that performance has come from, I didn't expect that."

He added: "Liverpool is next, and I have said to the players we cannot put on a performance like we did today. We cannot do that in front of our own supporters, live on national TV, that cannot happen again in another massive game like that."

The danger man

In-form Gylfi Sigurdsson is Reading's top scorer so far this term with seven strikes in all competitions, demonstrating the Icelandic midfielder's keen eye for goal.

The 20-year-old originally moved to the Madejski in 2005 after impressing on a trial spell.

His Reading debut arrived at the start of the 2008-09 campaign and he would later spend time on loan at both Shrewsbury and Crewe that season in order to gain some first-team experience.

Sigurdsson returned to the Royals ready for 09-10, and his form has helped establish him as a key player for the Championship side.

Match stats
By Ged Rea

Liverpool's FA Cup record: Pld  402 Won 214  Drawn  88  Lost  100  Goals For  669  Against 379.

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

Reading will be Liverpool's 96th different opponent in the FA Cup - the Reds 95th were Havant and Waterlooville two years ago.

Arsenal in 2007 were the last team to defeat Liverpool in this round of the competition  while our last away defeat at this stage came in Rafa's first game in the FA Cup - at Burnley in 2005.

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

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

Steven Gerrard is one goal short of becoming the 14th Liverpool player to reach 10 goals in the FA Cup.

The Liverpool captain is one of three players who won the FA 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.

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

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

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