online sports betting news

Betting on the sub markets for football matches, can bring great rewards, but they often get overlooked, with focus falling mainly on the fixed odds outright betting selections. This is where some careful planning of betting strategies, whether it is at an online bookmaker like Boylesports or a betting exchange like Betfair, can really help with your sports betting. It is hard to overstate the importance of casting a meticulous eye over football statistics to help your betting. While it may not apply quite so much in making a selection on an outright winner, online betting enables you to take your time and dig a little deeper into individual match markets. He we take a look over some of those sub-market bets which offer a little more expansive choice. The Premier League isn’t the be-all and end-all of football betting of course, but the same principles can apply to all leagues, so that is where we shall look.

SCORE AND GOALSCORING PREDICTIONS
After the Outright betting markets, one of the most popular selections is the Scorecast market. This is where you predict the correct score, along with the first goalscorer. This is a real tempter, simply because the prices look mightily attractive on them. One thing to remember here, for goalscorer bets, is that any one of 20 players can score (ok, 22 if you count the possibility of a freak goalie goal), and 1/20 odds aren’t great. Another factor to add in here, is the fact, the longer the game stays at 0-0, substitutions will come into effect, so that extends the odds, as a sub can come off the bench in the last fifteen minutes and score a winner. Not to mention injuries. Looking at the goalscoring category, you can try and narrow the field a little bit, by naturally leaning towards the strikers, who will be at the shortest odds. Most teams will have a prominent midfielder who finds the back of the net, along with a centre half with a big presence at corners, so pay attention to them. If it’s looking like it is going to be a tight game, hone in on penalty takers. If you are a one man team like Manchester United or Liverpool, then jumping all over star strikers Rooney or Torres should help with your Scorecast betting at places like Stan James.
Check the stats of teams for high goalscorers, but one important stat to also look at for the Scorecast bet, is the penchant your team has for scoring in the early periods of a game. If you fancy Drogba as first goalscorer, for example, but Chelsea have a high percentage of goals in the second half, then check their opponent’s scoring times. If they lean towards early goals, then this could be a tool to help your betting strategies with this. Picking a scoreline itself is tough enough, but when doubling up with a first goalscorer, you are narrowing you odds of landing a winner. The average goal count in Premier League matches is around 2.5 per match, so 1-0, 1-1 and 2-1 and are most common scorelines. An Anytime Scorer bet, is an all round much safer statistical bet, in terms of cutting odds to get rewards. You’ll increase your chances of returns if you select Wayne Rooney as an anytime scorer, as opposed to first or last.

TIMING IS EVERYTHING
Timing has more to do with football betting than one may think. Search the submarkets of any online bookmaker, and you will see time related goal markets. One of the leading markets in this is the Time of First Goal. Bet365 offer two different approaches to this scenario. The first option along these lines is a simple three way choice between: Up to and including 29th minute, After the 29th minute, or No Goals. Again you’re not going to be looking at huge profit, so anything around evens could be a nice little pick up. The No Goals option odds will be a bit longer, naturally, as goals are expected more than none being scored. The second approach to this, and this is where homework can pay off, is selecting smaller time brackets. Naturally on this, the shorter prices will be in the earlier brackets. So, again you can look at stats for the time periods when teams score most of their goals. You can look at 1-10 minutes, 11-20 minutes and so and so forth. If you think the two teams are going to hold out for a long period, then you will fall into the realms of the better odds. Again, this can be helped from studying form and statistics for your sports betting.

FIFTY/FIFTY CHANCE?
There are some interesting fields which can be delved into, which essentially offer a 50/50 chance on the market. The kind of markets which you can be looking at here, is the First or Last Team to Score, Total Goals odd/even. For most of these fields the odds are going to be relatively close, but there will be small variances on the level of opposition playing against each other. Manchester United v Portsmouth, for example, would give slightly shorter odds on United scoring first. Chelsea have scored first in 19 of their 28 matches, with Manchester United having done so 18 times, Arsenal and Liverpool both 17, so they can be backed with relative confidence.
Remember that while there may appear to be a 50/50 chance on say either Man Utd or Portsmouth scoring, there is the third factor to take into consideration which will reduce the odds to 33.3%, and that is the event of neither team scoring. There are not a high percentage of 0-0 draws, out of nearly 250 games this season in the Premier League, there has been just twenty 0-0 draws, which makes up 7.3% of results. If this is still a worry, then look up the high scoring teams and you should be able to effectively reduce the risk of a 0-0 result happening. Ask yourself, how often are Manchester United going to roll out to a 0-0 draw?
Further stats to back up bets like this, is the one that reads that 2.77 average goals per match this season in the Premier League. That leans towards there being goals in the match. If you do want a genuine 50/50 shot at an outcome, then go seek a Goal/No Goal market. Anything around Evens on there being a goal is a fair shout, again bearing in mind the low count of 0-0 draws. Small profit it may be, but at least there is profit to be gained from online bookmakers.

DOUBLE OR NOTHING
Another option, is the Double Chance, which increases your chance of winning a bet, but decreases the odds. This narrows the field of results, by letting you win should two of three match outcomes occur. In a match, there is obviously only a home win, away win or a draw which can happen. For example, if Bwin are offering a Double Chance on Arsenal v Burnley, then you could select “Arsenal or Match Drawn” as one bet. Odds on that aren’t going to be great naturally, but at least it covers your bet a little more, and will offer better odds on evenly matched teams. Alternatively, looking at doubles for football betting, you can split your options a little bit further, by going for a Half Time/Full Time result, or often called a Double Result. This is when you go to your online bookmaker like Bet365, and select the half time result and full time result in the same match, all in one bet. So, for example, you could select “Draw – Liverpool” bet if the Reds are slow starters, but usually come through in the end. You should be able to pick up some pretty fair odds on these types of markets. You can always take the single option on this as well, by just plumping for the halftime result alone (ie. Home, Draw or Away).

HANDICAPS
These are great options for picking up some extra rewards. Asian Handicap betting has become increasingly popular, as you back or bet against a result happening with a handicap in place at the start of the game. These allow for extra chances on a match result, so, for example, if you backed Chelsea to beat Stoke at Victor Chandler with +1 goal Asian Handicap on Stoke, then your winning potential is increased when compared to a straight outright bet. In this instance, if Stoke Win or Draw, your bet will win. If they lose by 1 goal, you will get a stake refund. Asian Handicap betting is well worth exploring and is a little from straight Handicap betting. Similarly if you want straight Handicap betting, then it could be worth investing some time in.

PROMOTIONS
Always keep a keen eye out for promotions from your online bookmaker, which are specifically geared towards these sub-market categories. For example, some bookmakers may offer refunds on lost Score Prediction stakes if a certain player scores the last goal of the match. Paddy Power and SportingBet are great exponents of promotions such as these, but you should be able to pick up plenty of specials and promotions with your online bookmaker.

OTHERS
As football betting is so vast, there are many more submarkets to get into on specific games. Based on the average goals per match statistic in the Premier League, betting on Total Goals has a lot of potential, and that also leads you into the Over/Under markets for matches as well. Take a dip into the Winning Margin market as well on a match, if predicting an actual score does not take your fancy. The point of all this is to explore a little deeper with your online bookmaker, because whether it is SkyBet, Coral or Ladbrokes, you will be able to find deep markets, with reduced risk. These are worth playing with in order to enhance your betting experience and pick up a little extra profit, outside of the regular Outright football bets. Good stats sections are available with most online bookmakers, to help you plan your betting strategies, and spreading your bets can have advantages.

Liverpool have won just four of their ten away matches in the Premier League this season, scoring an average of just 1.1 goals per game. However, after twenty games of the season played, it appears that the bookmakers still think that the Reds are in a false position this season. Why else can you explain why they’re priced at a prohibitive 4/6 with bet365 and Victor Chandler to win at the Britannia Stadium this Saturday (and to be fair to these bookmakers, that’s the best price that’s currently available)?

One can only assume that the bookies are prepared to give Stoke City such massive odds on account of the fact that they’re an unfashionable team to back. It’s true that the Potters don’t play the prettiest football in the division, nor that their aims are any higher than staying in the division, although their recent 3-2 win over Fulham illustrated that they are a tough nut to crack in front of their own supporters. If you factor in the abysmal weather conditions that are seemingly making matches more of a leveller than you would expect on a hot day, then it appears that Sky Bet’s 11/2 about Tony Pulis’ team is the wrong price.

Now we’re not suggesting that Stoke are definitely going to win and it’s Liverpool who clearly possess the most quality player-for-player. However, this is an example where it might pay to go against the grain. Just say you picked out three 11/2 ‘value picks’ this weekend and only one of them came in. That would still return a handsome profit, providing you backed the trio of teams at level stakes.

There are other markets where you can support the outsider if you think that the price is too big but you’re not confident enough to back them to win the match. Many bookmakers now offer a ‘Draw No Bet’ market, where there are no prizes for guessing that stakes are refunded if the match finishes all square (last season’s game between Stoke and Liverpool was a goalless draw). Sporting Bet offer 10/3 about Stoke on this market. Alternatively, there is also the option of adding the draw option to the outsider, something that can be done with a ‘Double Chance’ market. William Hill currently have 13/10 available that the outcome of the match is either a home win or a draw and I would personally make it no bigger than even money.

You may be of the opinion that Liverpool will win this match after some good recent performances in the Premier League. However, if you are prepared to take a long-term view with your betting and identify teams that are ultimately priced too big based on stats and form, then you should return a profit overall. You may think that Everton are too big at 19/10 (Boylesports) to beat Manchester City after an impressive unbeaten run which lately saw them draw 2-2 at Arsenal. However, it might be worth avoiding the 18/1 (Coral) that Burnley manage a surprise win at Old Trafford!

Some more pieces of advice that might give you a helping hand when it comes to football betting!

1)  Back No Goalscorer rather than 0-0

Anyone who has ever backed the goalless draw on the correct score market rather than No Goalscorer on the 1GS market needs their head testing! Bookmakers offer these outcomes at the same prices, yet you can back the latter and still win your bet if the game finishes 1-0. That’s because own goals don’t count as far as First Goalscorer betting is concerned, something that was in evidence when Newcastle won 1-0 at Sheffield United earlier this season. Ryan Taylor’s shot deflected off Chris Morgan and flew into the net, although no further goals in the game saw No Goalscorer settled as a winner.

However, it’s worth noting at bet365 that they offer a ‘Bore Draw Money Back’ offer, where losing correct score, HT / FT or scorecast bets are refunded if the game finishes 0-0.

2)  Watch out for dead rubbers in the Champions League and Europa League

We’re coming towards the end of the group stages of both competitions, so it’s worth treading carefully when backing short-priced teams. After all, last season, we saw eventual winners Barcelona lose 3-2 at home to Shakhtar after Pep Guardiola decided to rest his entire first team. Similarly, Inter lost their remaining two group games last term against Panathinaikos and Werder Bremen, with Jose Mourinho concentrating on the domestic league instead. Although both of these teams are scrapping for their lives this time around, it’s worth noting that Lyon, Sevilla, Manchester United, Chelsea, Porto and Arsenal are all safely through to the last sixteen. Even if their respective managers field strong teams, there won’t be that level of intensity you get from a team that need the points.

Similarly, there are plenty of teams in the Europa League group stages who will be playing in the knockout stages. Shakhtar, the victors over Barca last season, might take their own turn at being complacent after achieving maximum points from four matches. They will be joined in the final 32 by the likes of Salzburg, Sporting, Galatasaray and Werder Bremen. With many sides resting players for this competition in the first place, teams don’t need an excuse to take it easy as we approach a hectic fixture schedule.

3)  Keep a note of players on a scoring spree

Like many sports, football is very much a game of confidence and this is especially true for strikers. It’s not a coincidence to see a forward scoring for five consecutive matches, only to fail to hit the net in the next half dozen matches. Although the media focus will clearly be on Jermain Defoe at Villa Park this Saturday, it’s better to keep a note of players who are scoring on a consistent basis, not just at home to Wigan. Earlier this campaign, Darren Bent embarked on a scoring run of five matches and last Saturday’s goal against Arsenal could trigger something similar. Equally, Emmanuel Adebayor got his goal at Anfield on Saturday and has two home matches to start putting a run together.

Click here for last week’s tips and good luck!

Valencia v Racing Santander

Valencia sit proudly at the top of La Liga, still unbeaten this season and with 4 wins out of 4 at home, 12 goals for and 2 against, whilst hot shot David Villa has 9 goals in 8 games. Racing in contrast are 17th, have won once this season, (against Osasuna) and have just suffered the humiliation of being beaten at home by second division Murcia in the Copa de Rey midweek. Everything points to a home banker….. except the record book which shows us amazingly that Santander have won the last 4 matches between the two sides. That said, Valencia have been immense at home this season and having dropped points last weekend will be going all out to get the 3 this week surely Santander can’t make it 5 can they?

Valencia home win

Sporting Gijon v Numancia

I have to hold my hands up and admit I thought Gijon were going to be in for a long hard season and indeed I happily picked on them to lose week in week out and all was going to plan until the beginning of the month when they rather surprisingly won away at Mallorca. To be fair there had been some signs of improvement since the 7-1 thrashing at Real Madrid, indeed the week before the Mallorca game Gijon had been rather unlucky to lose 1-0 to Villareal. Gijon have now picked up 9 points from the last 3 games, Mallorca, then Osasuna and most impressively of all winning last weekend away against Deportivo La Coruna, 0-3. Numancia have looked reasonably solid since joining La Liga, (coming up with Gijon last season) most games have been pretty tight, losing to Real Madrid 4-3 and Barcelona 1-0 for example and then last weekend picking up all 3 points to win 2-1 against Racing Santander. Interestingly these two teams met in the week in the Copa de Rey with Gijon stealing a 1-0 win away at Numancia. I think this is going to be a close game again but feel the confident youngsters from Gijon, backed by a home crowd will just have enough to keep there winning streak going.

Gijon to win