The Iceland international suffered a knee injury in last week's 1-1 draw at Birmingham so Kalifa Cisse stands by.
Royals boss Steve Coppell has no new injury worries but is still without wingers John Oster (ankle) and Glen Little (heel).
Sunderland boss Roy Keane will once again be without Liam Miller for the trip.
The Irishman serves the second game of his three-match ban after being sent off at Chelsea.
Kieran Richardson (back) and Russell Anderson (ankle) are back in training but still some way from playing, while Nyron Nosworthy (hamstring) is progressing well, although Carlos Edwards (broken leg) will be out for some time.
Teams:
Reading (from): Hahnemann, Federici, Murty, de la Cruz, Ingimarsson, Sonko, Duberry, Bikey, Shorey, Convey, Harper, Cisse, Fae, Gunnarsson, Hunt, Kitson, Doyle, Long, Lita.
Sunderland (from): Ward, Gordon, McShane, Halford, Harte, Higginbotham, Collins, Yorke, Etuhu, Leadbitter, Wallace, Whitehead, Kavanagh, O'Donovan, Jones, Chopra, Connolly, Murphy, Stokes, Cole.
PA Sport