Daniel Johnson and Tom Barkhuizen are pushing to return to the Preston starting line-up for their Championship clash with Reading on Sunday.

Boss Alex Neil dropped the pair to the bench for the midweek win at Birmingham and will be tempted to keep changes to a minimum.

Billy Bodin is back in training for the first time since his knee operation but the game against the Royals is expected to come too soon.

Neil is still without longer-term injury absentees Louis Moult, Patrick Bauer and Declan Rudd.

Reading are set to have to cope without midfielder Michael Olise who is undergoing scans on a shoulder injury picked up in the midweek win over Coventry.

But there is better news looming for boss Veljko Paunovic with a trio of players closing in on a return to action.

Yakou Meite, Felipe Araruna and Andy Yiadom, who have all been absent with knee injuries, are expected to be fit before the end of the month.

Paunovic has also confirmed that longer-term absentees Liam Moore and George Puscas should be back in contention next month.