There is that old saying about variety being the spice of life and that’s an ethos that you can put towards football betting. There is a common practice when visiting sports betting sites UK or any other country offers, to stick to the markets that you know. Making selections from leagues that you are familiar with, be it the Premier League, the Championship or League One is sound advice.
But at some stage of proceedings, you do have to put some research into the football betting markets that you are playing. Even if it is just match outright selections that you play, you still need to understand the presented odds in the mark and understand the implied probability of outcomes.
So with an open mind and some time to invest, it is worth looking at some alternative football betting markets. Online bookmakers stack their sportsbooks with options, so you aren’t going to be short of variety. Alternative markets can be a big boost on your betting.
This is why they are the G.O.A.T.s of the beautiful game 🐐🔥#Ronaldo #Messi #Pele pic.twitter.com/49NVvecWxH
— FootTheBall FC (@FootTheBallFC) December 25, 2022
Why Look for Alternative Markets?
The simple answer to that is going to be value. It is very hard to find value in a match outright all the time. You look through a coupon and just find it difficult to pick out worthwhile bets. So having a good working knowledge of alternative markets, means that you can expand your options.
It may allow you to dig a little deeper into some underlying value for a match. The options are endless, but here are some of the best alternative football markets along with some example odds compared to the 1X2 markets.
Match Result and Both Teams To Score
This is a football betting market that can easily be disseminated by the stats. You have two outcome conditions put together to make this market. But that’s an advantage. If you have already picked a match-winner option, see if you can pair that up with a projected high-scoring fixture.
In the 2021/22 Premier League, Both Teams Scored in exactly 50% of all matches. You can break the stats down to focus on individual teams for this market. For example, Leicester had 68% of their 2021/22 league matches feature both teams scoring.
- Example odds: Newcastle To win 4/5, Newcastle To Win & BTTS 3/1
View this post on Instagram
To Win to Nil
This is another good football betting alternative market that could be easily broken down with statistics. Everyone knows that there are certain teams which pick up clean sheets frequently throughout the season. You generally are going to be looking at teams near the top of the table for this.
In the 2021/22 season, Liverpool and Man City took a clean sheet in 55% of their matches. Chelsea and Tottenham had the next-best returns of 42%. It’s worthwhile breaking down the statistics into home clean sheets and away clean sheets for teams because there is often a big discrepancy. But plumping for the condition of a clean sheet on top of a winning selection can add a lot of value.
- Example odds: Liverpool To Win 7/10, Liverpool To Win To Nil 12/5
Draw No Bet
The Draw No Bet option is geared towards backing an underdog to have a decent day at the office. Notably, this is generally played when the underdog team is involved in a home fixture. That just makes it a little bit easier on them than facing the extra pressures of travelling.
The Draw No Bet covers two options, for example, Crystal Palace To Win or Draw. It basically chops out the outcome of the draw from the 1X2 market. It’s a risk-averse option that is broken down into a low-margin two-way market.
For an average season in the Premier League, you are looking at around 25% of matches ending in a draw. But punters generally overlook the draw option. But if the Draw No Bet is played to back an outsider, when the stats support it, there’s value to be snapped up.
- Example Odds: Southampton To Win 27/10, Draw 13/5, Southampton/Draw Draw No Bet 17/10
Build a Bet Tool For Alternative Football Betting
We do want to pull into the picture one of the great newer tools of football betting at online bookmakers. That is the Build a Bet feature. The list of alternative football betting markets goes on, like Most Corners, To Win From Behind, Winning Margin, To Win Both Halves, First Half Result and Second Half Result.
These are all very interesting alternative markets and a bet builder lets you pull together some of these into one bet. The versatility means that you can construct a wager to your specific liking. So wherever the football statistics are leading you, it is possible to really push the lines of value.
It could be Chelsea To Win 1st Half, Chelsea Over 5.5 corners and Total Goals Over 2.5 goals at 12/1. It’s a great tool to play with and it can add another fascinating layer to betting on alternative football markets.
If you are thinking about placing any of the above mentioned bets, you can find a bookmaker for that at Match.Center, a website that studies betting sites, their offers and operation.
