Whoever picked this match as likely to produce festive entertainment for Sky Sports viewers when they could have had either of the goal feasts elsewhere in the capital must be related to the man who turned down The Beatles or the weather forecaster who said that there would be no hurricane in 1987.

Reading still have not won away in the Premier League this season, while West Ham United have been dismal at Upton Park, where this was their fifth consecutive game without a victory. Yesterday they failed to profit from a goal and a man advantage at half-time after the dismissal, for a flying two-footed tackle, of Brynjar Gunnarsson, the Reading midfield player. Injuries are advanced as part of the explanation for their home form, but have not prevented West Ham winning three of their past four away league games.

“We’re massively disappointed to have dropped two points,” Alan Curbishley, the West Ham manager, said. “We seem to set our fans up by winning away from home and coming back here and not doing it. The games we have lost have been to top-six sides, but it’s the other games – we’ve drawn with Bolton, Wigan and again today. We’re doing it the wrong way round at the moment. The fans are as frustrated as me. The players are giving their all, but the experienced ones are missing.”

Their home record is hardly likely to improve on Saturday, when they entertain Manchester United, although Curbishley has happy memories of last year’s 1-0 victory in the same fixture, his first in charge of the team. “Manchester United is the big game. Everyone looks forward to it and I’m hoping that we can lift the crowd or the crowd can lift us,” he said. “I can’t tell you who will be in the team, although I hope one or two will be back.”

Reading’s third away point came as a result of regrouping after the red card. “It was pleasing for a number of reasons,” Steve Coppell, the Reading manager, said. “Obviously, the result, in the circumstances. We were also very conscious of the result in the first match [a 3-0 defeat at the Madejski Stadium on September 1), which could easily have been 6-0. It hurt us and today was an opportunity to salvage something. The sending off knocked the chair from under you for a little bit, but we were solid and together and rose to the challenge.”

West Ham began in disjointed fashion, unable to do even the simplest things right, and needed Robert Green to be alert when Dave Kitson and Kevin Doyle helped the ball on for Bobby Convey to volley. The game changed, though, after Gunnarsson’s rash challenge on Hayden Mullins in the 29th minute. “I, like anybody else, want to see the two-footed jump tackle removed from the game,” Coppell said. “I know Bryn didn’t mean anything by it, but by the letter of the law he had to go.”

Thirteen minutes later, West Ham went ahead when Nolberto Solano took advantage of confusion in the Reading defence, bursting into the penalty area and lifting the ball over Marcus Hahnemann to score his first goal at Upton Park since joining the East London side in August.

West Ham should have wrapped the game up, but lost concentration after a corner kick in the 59th minute.

When Nicky Shorey returned the ball into the penalty area, Kitson escaped Jonathan Spector to hook the ball past Green for his sixth goal of the season. “A shocking piece of defending,” Curbishley said.

Briefly, West Ham woke up. Matthew Upson’s glancing header came off the angle of post and crossbar, and Hahnemann flung up an arm to repel a shot by Fredrik Ljungberg. But they soon sank back into their first-half slackness, lacking the wit or imagination to do much more than lump the ball forward for the final half-hour.

Twice, though, they might have won it. Ljungberg threaded a pass through to Scott Parker after 90 minutes, but his shot lacked any venom, and Ashton’s header hit the post in stoppage time, but it would have been hard on Reading after their battling display.

“We had enough chances to get the second goal,” Curbishley said. “Listen, for me, I can’t ask any more. They’re giving everything they’ve got. Sometimes, perhaps, it isn’t good enough. We need to win some games here, and if it starts on Saturday, why not? It did last year.”

How they lined up

West Ham United (4-4-2): R Green – L Neill, M Upson, G McCartney, J Spector – N Solano (sub: M Noble, 77min), S Parker, H Mullins, F Ljungberg – D Ashton, C Cole (sub: H Camara, 73). Substitutes not used: R Wright, A Ferdinand, J Pantsil. Booked: Cole, Green.

Reading (4-4-2): M Hahnemann – G Murty, I Ingimarsson, I Sonko, N Shorey – S Hunt, B Gunnarsson, J Harper, B Convey (sub: K Cissé 65) – K Doyle (sub: A Bikey, 90), D Kitson (sub: S Long, 85). Substitutes not used: A Federici, L Lita. Booked: Hunt, Shorey. Sent off: Gunnarsson.

Referee: P Walton.

What they need

West Ham Anyone who can stay out of the treatment room. If Lee Bowyer, Craig Bellamy, Matthew Etherington, Bobby Zamora, James Collins and the rest could remain fit, Alan Curbishley might not need to sign anyone.

Reading A central midfield player to assist James Harper is the obvious requirement. Brynjar Gunnarsson adds little to the side and Steve Coppell needs to find a temporary replacement within the squad during the three matches he will miss through suspension after his dismissal.