Tips to improve your football predictions

It’s called the beautiful game for a reason, and that’s because there are just so many, well, beautiful parts to it. Watching a football match in person, on a big screen, or with friends down the local pub is always an experience.

But when you’re not watching and being entertained by superb volleys or shots from the halfway line, you can always enjoy placing a bet on a match.

There are lots of betting opportunities, too, from a simple bet on which team will win the match to the individual player who scores or even how many goals they score. There are lots of different things to bet on, including who the next manager will be, which makes it so fun. But of course, you want to make sure you’re doing it right. That’s why we look into the most important tips to help you with your football predictions. You want to enjoy it after all.

Research, research, research

Sounds pretty self-explanatory but doing your research is perhaps the most important thing to do when placing a bet. In fact, you should be doing it thoroughly before you even think about placing that first bet.

If you’ve got a favourite team, that’s where you should begin your research. Look back at the past few matches, and check out their winning (or losing) streak. See how many goals they’ve been scoring per match and who’s been scoring them. Then you need to do the same for the opposition to try and gauge what their defence will be like. Maybe even look at the results from the last time the two teams met. It might sound like a lot of research to do, but it’s always worth it.

Thankfully, there are lots of editorial resources that give you weekend football tips, so you don’t have to do all the legwork yourself. Instead, you can use this to get an idea of what the predictions will be, and it will help you place a bet that’s more likely to come true. The further down you can pinpoint a prediction, the better your odds are. For example, if you’re a Tottenham Hotspurs fan and you think Harry Kane will score in the first 20 minutes, then the payout is going to be bigger than just betting on a win. So that’s where the research comes in handy.

Make the right size bet

That’s not just a general tip here, though, of course, it goes without saying you want to be sensible when it comes to placing your bet. But one technique you can utilise is bet sizing. You start off by deciding how much money you want to put towards your football bet.

Once you’ve made that decision, you need to stick to it, don’t add any more to your bankroll. Then, you decide on a percentage of that amount to place on each bet, with the recommended range from 1% to 5%. If you’re just starting out, then stick with 1%, or if you’re playing the middle ground, then go for 3%. Then it’s just a case of sticking to it. Don’t be put off by the odds available, just place the same bet each time.

You might suffer some losses, as everyone does when it comes to this, but it won’t be a major loss, so you can still keep playing for longer and eventually get some good payouts.

Bet with your head, not your heart

This comes back to researching before a game. You might be an avid fan and only place a bet on your favourite striker scoring, whether that’s Liverpool’s Mo Salah or someone else. But that might not always be the best bet (literally). You need to consider things and think about the best predictions out there. Once you’ve done your research and thought about it, you’re more likely to place a successful bet than be rash. Likewise, you can easily get lost in the moment and place in-game bets – sometimes these can come up trumps, but again, think about the rest of the game and the end result before rushing into something.

Look into alternative markets

The aim of the game is to win. For football and sports betting, you want your team to win and place a bet on that happening. But you can make things more interesting by looking into alternative markets. These will be offered on most sportsbooks and give you more opportunities.

For example, you could bet on who’s going to score the most goals in the first half and second half (tip – Manchester City score a lot), how many yellow or red cards there will be, the number of tackles, throw-ins – you name it, you’ll probably find it. It definitely mixes up the game and gives you something else to play for.