diff --git a/WordPress/src/main/java/org/wordpress/android/ui/reader/views/ReaderRelatedPostsView.java b/WordPress/src/main/java/org/wordpress/android/ui/reader/views/ReaderRelatedPostsView.java
index 8fea7d13c179..78f2981da2c2 100644
--- a/WordPress/src/main/java/org/wordpress/android/ui/reader/views/ReaderRelatedPostsView.java
+++ b/WordPress/src/main/java/org/wordpress/android/ui/reader/views/ReaderRelatedPostsView.java
@@ -200,13 +200,22 @@ private void showFeaturedImage(final View postView, final ReaderRelatedPost rela
         }
 
         // featured image has height set to MATCH_PARENT so wait for parent view's layout to complete
-        // before loading image so we can set the image height correctly
+        // before loading image so we can set the image height correctly, then tell the imageView
+        // to crop the downloaded image to fit the exact width/height of the view
         postView.getViewTreeObserver().addOnGlobalLayoutListener(new ViewTreeObserver.OnGlobalLayoutListener() {
             @Override
             public void onGlobalLayout() {
                 postView.getViewTreeObserver().removeOnGlobalLayoutListener(this);
-                String photonUrl = PhotonUtils.getPhotonImageUrl(relatedPost.getFeaturedImageUrl(), mFeaturedImageWidth, postView.getHeight());
-                imgFeatured.setImageUrl(photonUrl, WPNetworkImageView.ImageType.PHOTO);
+                int cropWidth = mFeaturedImageWidth;
+                int cropHeight = postView.getHeight();
+                String photonUrl = PhotonUtils.getPhotonImageUrl(
+                        relatedPost.getFeaturedImageUrl(), cropWidth, cropHeight);
+                imgFeatured.setImageUrl(
+                        photonUrl,
+                        WPNetworkImageView.ImageType.PHOTO,
+                        null,
+                        cropWidth,
+                        cropHeight);
             }
         });
 
diff --git a/WordPress/src/main/java/org/wordpress/android/widgets/WPNetworkImageView.java b/WordPress/src/main/java/org/wordpress/android/widgets/WPNetworkImageView.java
index 1f858664c534..05f7eaf61d65 100644
--- a/WordPress/src/main/java/org/wordpress/android/widgets/WPNetworkImageView.java
+++ b/WordPress/src/main/java/org/wordpress/android/widgets/WPNetworkImageView.java
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 import android.graphics.BitmapFactory;
 import android.graphics.Color;
 import android.graphics.drawable.ColorDrawable;
+import android.media.ThumbnailUtils;
 import android.os.AsyncTask;
 import android.support.annotation.ColorRes;
 import android.support.annotation.DrawableRes;
@@ -60,6 +61,9 @@ public interface ImageLoadListener {
     private int mDefaultImageResId;
     private int mErrorImageResId;
 
+    private int mCropWidth;
+    private int mCropHeight;
+
     private static final HashSet<String> mUrlSkipList = new HashSet<>();
 
     public WPNetworkImageView(Context context) {
@@ -77,9 +81,25 @@ public void setImageUrl(String url, ImageType imageType) {
     }
 
     public void setImageUrl(String url, ImageType imageType, ImageLoadListener imageLoadListener) {
+        setImageUrl(url, imageType, imageLoadListener, 0, 0);
+    }
+
+    public void setImageUrl(String url,
+                            ImageType imageType,
+                            ImageLoadListener imageLoadListener,
+                            int cropWidth,
+                            int cropHeight) {
         mUrl = url;
         mImageType = imageType;
 
+        if (cropWidth > 0 && cropHeight > 0) {
+            mCropWidth = cropWidth;
+            mCropHeight = cropHeight;
+        } else {
+            mCropWidth = 0;
+            mCropHeight = 0;
+        }
+
         // The URL has potentially changed. See if we need to load it.
         loadImageIfNecessary(false, imageLoadListener);
     }
@@ -258,6 +278,11 @@ private void handleResponse(ImageLoader.ImageContainer response, boolean isCache
                 setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
             }
 
+            // if cropping is requested, do it before further manipulation
+            if (mCropWidth > 0 && mCropHeight > 0) {
+                bitmap = ThumbnailUtils.extractThumbnail(bitmap, mCropWidth, mCropHeight);
+            }
+
             // Apply circular rounding to avatars in a background task
             if (mImageType == ImageType.AVATAR) {
                 new ShapeBitmapTask(ShapeType.CIRCLE, imageLoadListener).executeOnExecutor(AsyncTask.THREAD_POOL_EXECUTOR, bitmap);
diff --git a/WordPress/src/main/res/layout/reader_related_post.xml b/WordPress/src/main/res/layout/reader_related_post.xml
index f7b10c662d68..6540b20835a7 100644
--- a/WordPress/src/main/res/layout/reader_related_post.xml
+++ b/WordPress/src/main/res/layout/reader_related_post.xml
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
         android:layout_width="@dimen/reader_related_post_image_width"
         android:layout_height="match_parent"
         android:layout_marginRight="@dimen/margin_large"
-        android:scaleType="fitXY"
+        android:scaleType="centerCrop"
         android:visibility="gone"
         tools:src="@drawable/box_with_pages_top"
         tools:visibility="visible" />