GLEN Little reckons life could be about to get tough for Burnley.

The Clarets winger returns to Reading tonight hoping Stan Ternent's men can extend this year's unbeaten league record.

And as a testing few weeks loom, with the weekend trip to Millwall quickly followed by home games against West Ham and Preston, Little knows it is crucial to get off to a flying start at the Madejski Stadium.

He said: "Looking at the table, it's a tough run of games coming up. The sides are pushing for play-off positions, so we will probably be the underdogs in all of them.

"We know how important this spell is and it's vital we get off to a good start. But the difference Saturday's win over Ipswich makes is that we go to Reading thinking we can get a result anywhere.

"We are unbeaten in the league and we just have to keep going and pick up a couple of wins in the next few games and we will be quite strong."

Had things worked out differently, Little could have been facing the Clarets tonight. The wide man saw out last season on loan with the Royals, before turning down the offer of a long-term deal in the summer to return to Turf Moor.

He explained: "I could have signed, but it was the wages. They couldn't pay me what I was on at Burnley, so there was never any case of me signing.

"They were a long way off and it was a phone call (from Reading) saying 'I want to take you, but you will have to take a drop'.

"So it was a case of 'see you and thanks very much'.

"Football wise, I enjoyed it there and I was a bit disappointed we didn't go all the way to the Premiership because I felt in the play-off semi-final against Wolves, we were the better side for 150 of the 180 minutes.

"But that's the fine line between winning and losing. Reading are going through the same thing again this season and, despite not being at their best, have given themselves a chance of the play-offs.

"But we need the points for other reasons, so we will go there and do our best and see what happens."

A 17-strong Burnley squad has travelled south for tonight's clash, with boss Ternent leaving it until the last minute to assess Neil Wood's fitness following a knee injury that kept him out of the win over Ipswich.

Paul Weller stands by to resume his left midfield role should the on-loan Manchester United midfielder fail to recover.

Reading, meanwhile, are looking for their third win in four league matches, inspired by joint-leading scorer Shaun Goater, who has struck four goals in his last three games.