Reading 2-2 Newcastle Highlights

Demba Ba scored twice to rescue a point for Newcastle and deny Reading their first Premier League win of the season.

Watch English Premier League match, Reading Vs Newcastle highlights here.

Venue: Madejski Stadium
Date: Saturday, 29 September
Kick off: 15:00 BST

Head-to-head

This is only their 13th meeting in all competitions. Newcastle have won eight times, Reading three and there has been one draw.

Their last meetings came in the Championship in the 2009-10 season. Newcastle won 3-0 at home and then 2-1 away in April 2010 – to leave them requiring just a point to win the Championship title. Kevin Nolan scored both goals.

That was Newcastle’s first win away at Reading at the fifth attempt.

Alan Pardew’s first managerial position was at Reading, from 1999-2003, after finishing his playing career at the club. He won promotion with Reading from the Second Division (the third tier of the football league) to Division One (the second tier) in 2002. He won 102 and lost 57 of 211 matches in charge of the Royals.

Reading

In their two previous seasons in the Premier League, Reading had picked up at least one win by their fifth match.

The last time the Championship winners from the previous season went four matches without a win at the start of the season was Sunderland in 2005 – and they were relegated.

In their opening four matches they have recorded only nine shots on target and scored four goals.

Newcastle

Demba Ba now has four goals in his last five matches and 20 goals in 39 Premier League games for Newcastle. Including his spell at West Ham, his record is 27 goals in 51 league games.

Only two players have scored a Premier League goal for Newcastle this season – Ba (four) and Hatem Ben Arfa (2). Only QPR and Sunderland (both one) have had fewer different goal scorers so far.

Hatem Ben Arfa has completed 20 dribbles this season, more than any other player in the top flight.