Reading Eye Wimbledon Test as George Earthy Joins Squad
League One business resumes for Reading on Saturday, and they head to the Cherry Red Records Stadium with a spring in their step and a new playmaker in tow.
A second penalty shootout win of the season, this time against Wycombe Wanderers on Tuesday, has steadied the mood. It wasn’t sparkling, but it was efficient, and it gave a clutch of squad players the chance to bang on the manager’s door. Some of them did more than knock.
Across the halfway line, AFC Wimbledon are still searching for rhythm. Their start mirrors Reading’s on paper – a league defeat and two cup ties that went the distance – but with one key difference: only one of their two shootouts has gone their way. The latest ended in disappointment against Leyton Orient in midweek.
Add in a couple of familiar faces and the subplots deepen. Former Royal Andy Yiadom is in line to face his old club, while Steven Sessegnon adds pedigree and promise to a Wimbledon side that looks better than its early results suggest.
Kick-off is 3pm on Saturday 22 August, matchday two in League One, with Michael Barlow in charge of the whistle. The bookmakers shade it towards Reading, but home advantage and a tight, compact ground tend to have their say in games like this.
Fringe players force the issue
The Wycombe tie won’t live long in the memory as a spectacle. It might, though, prove important when the team sheet drops on Saturday.
On the right, Ashqar Ahmed made a compelling case. Seven defensive interventions, two chances created and an 83% pass completion rate told the story of a full-back who didn’t just survive the contest, he controlled his flank. Solid, tidy, reliable. On current form, he has every right to expect a run at right-back.
Inside him, Boyd Beacroft turned in the kind of performance centre-halves build careers on. He led the match with 12 defensive contributions, won six of his seven ground duels and made six clearances. Across the early weeks of the season, he has looked Reading’s most assured centre-back: front-foot, aggressive, decisive.
Emmanuel Osho brought a different energy. Used wide, he carried a threat that Wycombe struggled to contain, registering two shots – both on target – and completing two of his three dribbles. The finish was all that was missing. He may not dislodge the starters just yet, but as an impact option from the bench, he looks primed to change the tempo of tight games.
Deeper in midfield, Liam Fraser delivered the kind of all-round display that managers trust. He took his goal well, saw plenty of the ball with 75 touches, and threaded seven passes into the final third. Out of possession he was just as sharp: seven recoveries, four clearances and a perfect record in aerial duels. Those numbers put serious pressure on Andy Rinomhota’s place. On this evidence, Fraser has earned the nod for Wimbledon.
For Reading, those performances are more than a one-off. They are another reminder that the club’s Category 1 academy is still feeding talent straight into the first-team picture.
Earthy arrives to lift the ceiling
Then there’s the new man. George Earthy turns this from a routine league fixture into a glimpse of what Reading might become.
Born in 2004, the attacking midfielder has grown up in West Ham United’s system, broken the surface of the first team with five senior appearances and a goal, and sharpened his craft across 51 games for Bristol City, where he added three goals and two assists.
The real headline, though, comes from his 2023/24 campaign with West Ham’s under-21s: 32 appearances, 14 goals, 11 assists. Those are not tidy-squad-player numbers. Those are “give me the ball and I’ll decide it” numbers.
Dig into his Bristol City season and the profile is just as striking. Among players in his role, he ranked high across goals, expected goals, xG on target, non-penalty xG, total shots, shots on target, successful passes, touches in the opposition box and possession won in the final third. He doesn’t just drift on the edges of games; he lives in the dangerous areas and keeps coming back for more.
Crucially for Reading, he loves to shoot and hits the target often. In a league where goalkeepers can be exposed from range, that matters. It also puts a little heat on Lewis Wing, long the go-to for long-range threat. Now there’s competition from another midfielder who can step in, look up and let fly.
Earthy’s two-footedness adds another layer. Comfortable striking and passing off either side, he can roll out of pressure, open angles that most players can’t see, and disguise shots and passes that defenders struggle to read. For a side already boasting attacking options, he looks like the piece that can tilt tight games.
He won’t fix everything on his own, but he raises the ceiling of this front six. Reading suddenly have the look of a team that can hurt you from almost anywhere.
Predicted XI and a bold call
So how might Reading line up in south London?
Joel Pereira is expected to keep his place in goal.
In front of him, a back four of Ahmed, Beacroft, Paudie O’Connor and Jeriel Dorsett would reward midweek form and maintain a strong physical core.
Fraser and Wing should form the shield in front of them, one snapping into challenges and recycling possession, the other dictating tempo and threatening from distance.
Ahead of that pair, an attacking trio of Daniel Kyerewaa, Earthy and Kyreece Lisbie offers movement, creativity and goals from all angles, with Jack Marriott leading the line and looking to profit from the service behind him.
Put that together and you can see why confidence is growing. The prediction? A 2–0 Reading win, built on a solid base and a sharper, more varied threat in the final third.
The Royals have their penalty practice in the bank, a new creator in the building and academy graduates pushing hard. Wimbledon, backed by their own crowd and stung by midweek defeat, will test all of that. Which version of Reading turns up could tell us a lot about where this season is heading.
