Nowadays, everybody is obsessed with reading stats and using them in the hope of gaining an advantage when it comes to betting. However, which stats are more important than others when it comes to placing a wager?
Punters would be aware of the teams and will already have background knowledge of the important players should they be fans. But, what else should punters be looking at before using the latest Paddy Power promo codes to maximise their returns?
Basic Stats
The fundamental stats that everybody should be aware of before placing a bet are, without a doubt, the recent form and the head to head records. Studying the last six games is a good starting point, while the head to head study may show you certain repeat results. For instance, certain teams have terrible records against others. For example, Tottenham Hotspur have only beaten Chelsea five times since 1992 and Everton have only recorded nine wins against Liverpool in the Premier League era.
These are crucial aspects to explore and may offer up routes of potential profit. For instance, Chelsea could easily be priced as the outsider in a fixture against Spurs, but you could use the stats to justify backing the draw or Blues win.
Goals
One of the most common betting markets for punters is the both teams to score market, and the perfect stat for that is the average goalscoring for specific teams. This would highlight the ability that each team has of hitting the back of the net, and those with low averages such as West Bromwich Albion in the 2015-16 season, who only averaged 0.89 will not be a smart bet for the both teams to score. It is also essential to study the average goals a team concedes, which could offer a further incentive. If a team concedes and scores over one per game, then it could be a smart bet to pick that both teams will score.
It is also important to consider the fixture, as certain fixtures have averaged more goals than most over the Premier League era. For example, the North London derby averages 2.83 goals a game, which is higher than the average for a top-flight fixture.
Unimportant Stats
There are so many stats around that it is almost impossible for all of them to be of interested for betting fans. The most irrelevant of them all is the possession stat. This could simply be defined as one of the most misleading stats in the whole of the game, and a team that possesses 70% of the ball may, in fact, have the ball in no goalscoring positions. The famous Celtic win over Barcelona saw the Catalonian side record 89% of the possession, but apart from their one clear chance they never looked like winning the game.
Individual player stats can also be put down as irrelevant in betting to some degree. The only exception to this is if a player has a great goalscoring record against the opponents. For instance, Raheem Sterling has scored eleven goals against West Ham United in his career and that kind of stat would be crucial for when picking the first goalscorer of the game. However, how much a particular player runs in the game would be useful to a sports scientist, but not to a punter.
