There are no fresh injury worries for Norwich City ahead of their Boxing Day clash with Reading but manager Alex Neil says the game will come too soon for winger Matt Jarvis.

The 30-year-old played his first 90 minutes of the season on Monday in an under-23s game at Colney as he continued his comeback from a knee injury which has kept him out of the first team all season.

Neil doesn't think the 30-year-old is ready for Championship action yet though, ahead of Monday's trip to the Madejski Stadium.

'I'm not sure Matt's going to be ready really,' Neil said at this afternoon's pre-match press conference. 'He's done a few games but to be honest most of them have been away from home and I haven't really managed to cast my eyes on him in proper games.

'Obviously he's done a bit of training and stuff but the considerable time that he was out, I think he's still got a little bit to go.

'There's a difference between playing 20s level and first team level and with the big squad that we've got Matt's got to be fully fit and meriting to take someone's place.

'We've got a lot of players and some of the guys aren't even in the squad and they are good players, because I've got other guys who are doing better or are ahead of them.'

The Canaries boss added that he has no other injury concerns ahead of the clash with Jaap Stam's high-flying team.

Reading have won seven of their last nine league games to move up to third but City have lost seven of their last nine to slip to 10th place – and Neil is well aware the Royal will be a tough proposition.

'We've got a big game coming up and we need to turn results around, and it doesn't come any bigger than going to Reading because they've done well this year,' Neil continued.

'It's going to be a tough test for us but we're well up for the challenge.'