Villa have picked up just one point from their last three games, against Arsenal, Manchester City and Manchester United, to slip into the bottom three.
Lambert?s men have the joint worst goalscoring record in the Premier League, so we wait to see if the manager recalls record signing Darren Bent.
Reading fell below Villa in the table as a result of their late defeat at Wigan and manager Brian McDermott has called on his players to be more ruthless.
Here at football.co.uk we predict a Villa win to take them out of the bottom three ? maybe Bent will be the match winner. But what do the stats, and the odds, suggest?
Top ten stats.
Villa have had the upper-hand over Reading in previous encounters, having won seven of the eight league meetings between the clubs.
The Royals? only league victory over Villa was in February 2007 when Steve Sidwell scored twice in a 2-0 home win.
Villa have only won one of their last 11 home games in the Premier League (W1, D6, L4).
Brian McDermott?s men suffered their first defeat in five league matches at Wigan on Saturday.
Paul Lambert's side have the joint worst goalscoring record in the division -QPR and Norwich have also only scored ten goals in 13 matches.
Reading have dropped 14 points from winning positions this season, sharing an unwanted record in the Premier League with Fulham.
Third from bottom Villa have only gained one point from losing positions this season.
The Villans are unbeaten at home against Reading in all competitions, registering eight successive wins since a 1-1 draw way back in 1912.
Reading have conceded more goals (15) in the final 30 minutes of matches than any other Premier League team this season.
Most bookies make Villa evens to win with a Reading victory quoted at 3/1. It?s 12/5 the draw.
Check out the latest odds at Betway - the official betting partner of football.co.uk
Source: DSG
Source: DSG