Free Expert Football Predictions
The Ultimate Guide to Football Bet Prediction
Predicting the right results is a skill, though there’s also an element of luck to it. No one is going to get it right every time, but there are experienced betting experts out there who spend hours studying and analysing in-depth sports data — and these are the people who achieve the biggest betting profits.
Individuals who are committed to betting, using science and detailed data to guide them in their football predictions, are much more likely to provide an accurate insight than someone basing their ideas on their general knowledge alone. This well-informed insight can become the foundation of a betting strategy designed to generate plenty of profit.
Information for football predictions can be gathered from various reliable sources. Obviously, there are expert tipsters like Betnaija, but you can also find some (or all) of the information yourself. Below, we will take you through some of the key steps involved in predicting football outcomes correctly — but be warned: it requires a lot of time and information analysis.
So, what can you use your football predictions for? Well, there is a comprehensive range of betting markets on which you can take advantage of your predictions and tips. The most common markets that people tend to predict are match winners (in other words, predicting which side is going to win a specific game). However, there are many more bet types to look into.
See also Today’s Match Predictions or Football Predictions For Tomorrow.
The right betting information is important
Equipped with the right information, you can predict correct scores, the winning margin, the number of goals scored, whether or not both teams will score, and which player will manage to score the first goal. The list isn’t limited to these, either. There are also markets for the number of corners in a game, the number of bookings that will be made, and many more.
For maximum profit, there is also the option to combine some of these elements to create a multiple bet. As an example, you could choose Lionel Messi to score and Argentina to win. There are endless opportunities for using betting data to your advantage, and it’s up to you to use it wisely.
Several top online bookmakers will offer these multiple bets as promotions with boosted odds. Usually, they are a headline offer: when you click through to the event or even just the football section, you will be greeted with a banner stating something along the lines of ‘Real Madrid to win and both teams to score — was 2.25, now 3.’
How to correctly predict football results
Predicting football outcomes correctly is an important skill, especially when looking to make betting profit. There are many different strategies out there for you to try, some better than others. Our team of experts are on hand to offer an insight into their thought process when making their football predictions. The mantra of our experts is to analyse all of the information available to them when they write their football predictions and previews.
They will start with a solid foundation of football knowledge by looking at the two sides and finding out if there is a clear difference in ability, and if so, asking what does that mean for potential bets? You can use key information to help you predict the correct score, the number of goals scored during a game, the first goalscorer, and many other outcomes.
The essential skill required for predicting football results is an ability to keep looking for, and analysing, an extensive amount of data. Data is crucial: the more of it, the better. It’s easy to become complacent by looking at just the first two or three things you find, or checking the teams’ league positions, and making your bet based on these facts alone.
You need much more than that if you want to predict football results consistently. It is important to keep researching, as it will highlight more variables for you before making your prediction.
Of course, something completely unpredictable or unique can happen in a game. But when betting, it’s important to remember that you’re looking for the most likely outcomes across your whole strategy, not a one-off game.
Look at the all the betting data available to you
The data you should be looking at starts with league position and form. Obviously, a side that’s at the top of the table and unbeaten in 10 games is more than likely to be the victor against a side which is at the bottom of the league with no wins across the past few months.
However, is there any clue that an unexpected defeat could happen? Has a team just hired a new manager, and do they have the potential to benefit from the ‘new manager bounce’ that has been seen many times before? Has a team just lost a star striker or key defender that will leave them without goals or exposed at the back?
Looking into team data (including injuries and suspensions) will help you with your football predictions. Statistics and data are easily available these days. You can find information such as ‘Manchester United’s win percentage when Paul Pogba is playing’ with ease. Use this information when making your predictions.
The games that feature teams in the middle of the table can be tricky to predict, but recent form may give you an insight into how the match could play out. A team in 14th position may look less appealing than one in 9th, but the latter could be sliding down the table while the team in 14th is rebuilding their season under a new manager. All of these considerations are crucial.
Some teams seem to have bad luck when visiting particular grounds or when playing against certain teams. All of this information will be available online. You can check out the head-to-head records to see who comes out on top more often, or discover when they last won at a specific location. It can even come down to one manager versus another manager.
Sometimes you have to look deeper into the data
When assessing form, it’s about using all the data to your advantage. Look deeper. Look at home and away form. When studying a particular fixture, the outcome may seem obvious to the untrained eye. However, if you look into the data a bit deeper, you may think “yes, they might be great at home, but they haven’t won away in months and the team they’re playing has a strong home record”. This would provide you with a new, well-informed outlook for your prediction.
The same data analysis and logic can be applied across all bets when making football predictions — it doesn’t have to be just a match result. Has a striker opened the scoring regularly this season? If so, he may well be a good pick for your first goalscorer bet. Does a team keep winning by two or three goal margins regularly? If so, it might be an idea to check out the handicap markets or even the over/under goals markets.
Armed with all of this information, you can begin to build a mental image of how you think a game will play out. You would know if their home form is good, if their squad is fully fit, what their record is like against their opponents, and what the manager’s head-to-head record is like. You have to use the variables to predict how the game will play out. You are now informed with the right betting data to give you the best possible chance of predicting the end result of the game, or any other bet market that you’re interested in.
Top 5 Football Prediction Tips
If there was a guaranteed method of predicting the correct result every time, we would have retired a long ago. Sadly, there isn’t, but there are still many things you can do to improve the chances of your bet being successful. Next, we’re going to look at some key things you should aim to do to achieve maximum accuracy with your football predictions.
1. Research statistics
Research, research, research. That’s our number-one tip for any sports betting fan. Give yourself as much information as possible. Look into historical results and try to find patterns or facts that stick out, as these could provide you with an expert prediction on a match.
Data will tell you how likely a specific result is. For example, the last ten Juventus games have seen fewer than 2.5 goals nine times. Although there are other variables at play, this insight will allow you to make a reasonable prediction on the chances of over or under 2.5 goals being scored in the next game. The more data you have available to you, the more you can start to get an idea of how a team’s future games will play out.
2. Know the conditions
Let’s say Bayern Munich are playing at home to Hertha Berlin this weekend. Bayern Munich are on a tremendous run, winning their last 10 games. Hertha Berlin have been hopeless away from home, having picked up no points away all season. Everything points to a Bayern Munich win, right?
But what happens if Hertha Berlin have just appointed a coach who is a club legend and has lifted the whole club and fanbase, while Bayern Munich have been incredibly unlucky, losing four of their star players to injury and their key defender to a suspension?
They are also travelling back from Moscow the night before the game, having played a Champions League knockout game that went through to extra time and penalties. The weather forecast for this match is also set to be heavy rain and high winds.
This imaginary example might seem extreme, but all of these are key variables. Knowing the conditions a game will be played in is as crucial as any other type of data. Squad availability, weather conditions, and everything in between are key pieces of information that you should be aware of before placing any of your bets.
3. Watch matches
This may seem like obvious advice, but it should never be underestimated: watch football matches. There’s no better way to gain experience for football predictions than watching football. Discovering how games unfold, understanding patterns of play, and seeing how a team sets up against different oppositions can provide you with a lot of insight.
The more football you watch, the more you will be able to understand a team’s strengths and weaknesses. Every team and every manager has a tactical plan, and will struggle against specific styles of play. If you want to predict football bets more successfully, you should be watching as much football as possible, and ideally watch the leagues on which you like to bet.
4. Use your own experience
Our fourth tip combines some of our previous tips. Let’s say you have analysed your data, you have assessed how both teams work by watching them play several times, and you know exactly where both sides stand in terms of injuries and suspensions. However, you are still unsure what your prediction should be. In this case, you can use your own experience, whether that’s previous predictions experience (if you have any) or experience of watching games and calling the results.
Think about similar football predictions you have made and what the end result was. Can that be useful to you for your next bet? Would you have done anything differently? Learn from your past mistakes and draw on this experience to improve your predictions for future games.
5. Predict at the right time
Our last big tip for making correct football predictions is ensuring that you place your bets at the right time. A team could fall sick like Arsenal did back in 2006, or they could suffer several injuries while training in the lead up to a game. Making your bets at the right time is crucial.
You don’t want to make them too early and be the victim of a change in variables, but you also don’t want to leave them too late and risk rushing your predictions. We highly recommend doing your data and statistical research well ahead of time. However, waiting until the day of the game or the night before is also helpful to ensure that your research is not wasted due to bad luck.