Show of support for Federici

Federici, who allowed a weak effort from Stoke's Michael Kightly to get past him during Reading's 1-1 draw on the weekend, was again at fault as Gary Cahill's speculative long-range strike eluded him during Chelsea's 4-2 win at Stamford Bridge.

Reading's recent aquisition of Arsenal and Manchester City goalkeeper Stuart Taylor fueled speculation Federici's starting position in the team was under threat, but after the Chelsea game McDermott threw his support behind the embattled Socceroos star.

"It has moved with that second goal," McDermott said. "I'm not concerned about him at all. He's got fantastic mentality.

"He's not overwhelmed by the Premier League."

McDermott did bemoan the assistant referee's refusal to flag Spanish forward Fernando Torres for offside as he scored Chelsea's third.

The Royals had held a halftime lead after going behind to Frank Lampard's penalty after goals to Pavel Pogrebnyak and Danny Guthrie.

But Cahill and Torres put the home team back in front before Branislav Ivanovic scored a late fourth on the counter-attack as Federici, who had pushed up the field for a corner, was caught out.

"I'm gutted the linesman's got that decision wrong on the third goal," McDermott said.

"He was offside and it was not a good night for him. It's not been a good night for me, either. I just said to him he'd got it wrong.

"My gut feeling was that it was offside, and it was clearly offside.

"Unfortunately for him. He said he'd have a look at it. He can have a look at it. That's life. People make mistakes, and he's made a mistake tonight.

"It's just a shame it was for such a crucial goal because we would definitely have got a point. I'm really disappointed for the players."

Chelsea boss Roberto di Matteo was impressed by the comeback and another solid display by new signing Eden Hazard.

But despite his team having a maximum six points from its opening two games, the way Reading came back into the game highlighted the defensive work that needs to be done as Di Matteo attempts to introduce Hazard, Oscar and Marko Marin into his side.

"The balance was always going to be the key," Di Matteo said.

"It's all great and everyone wants to see a lot of flair play, but to win games you need a good balance to it. That's going to be the challenge.

"I would like to think we are defensively quite good. We had a clean sheet on the first day."

Di Matteo also hinted he will speak to Chelsea defender David Luiz, who announced he was out with a knee injury on Twitter on the morning of the game.

"We expect him to be available for Saturday. This social media is around now. We'll deal with it internally, no problem," Di Mateo said.