Over/Under 2.5 Goals Betting For Best Odds

Over/Under 2.5 Goals Betting For Best Odds

*This is the first in a series of blogs I’m planning to write about the best places to make specific football bets – look out for more articles soon!

Over/Under 2.5 Goals betting has become popular for the simple reason that it offers punters an almost 50/50 chance of success.

If you average out the number of goals scored in professional football matches over a longer period, most leagues see an average of between 2.4 and 2.8 goals scored in each game.

Therefore, by the laws of averages, a typical game between two professional teams is more likely to see two or three goals scored than any other number.

The teams involved in the game obviously alter the chances of the over or under occurring but given the statistical range of 2.4-2.8 it’s becomes extremely important to get the best odds on over/under 2.5 goals bets.

Best Place to Bet on Over/Under 2.5 Goals?

As you’ve probably guessed from the intro the best place to bet on over/under 2.5 goals is the betting site offering consistently the best odds.

All bookmakers offer betting on Over/Under 2.5 Goals and while many of them will offer similar or the same odds for any given game, in my experience there is one bookmaker that offers consistently better value for this bet type.

This bookmaker is Bet365. I’d love to offer you a reason why this is the case but frankly as far as I can see there isn’t one. What I do know is whenever I’ve been shopping odds to bet on over/under 2.5 goals Bet365 consistently comes out on top of the pile.

So much so that I’ve stopped bothering to look past bet365 when betting on over/under 2.5 goals.

Betting with Bet365 on this market proves more lucrative than using any other betting site. Plus they have an excellent bonus offer for new customers. It’s a 100% deposit bonus up to £200 and it’s available to bet with instantly (Click here to claim the £200 deposit bonus).

Other Over/Under 2.5 Goals Betting Sites

If you do want to shop around to compare odds then there are only two other betting sites I would bother with:

1) BetVictor – simply because independent research from leading odds comparison websites has shown that on average, BetVictor offers 70% better odds than the average price on all football markets.

2) Betfair – also a good place to check odds as they are a betting exchange and as such, there’s no vig to be paid to a bookmaker. This means a better price most of the time (well some of the time) than you can get with a traditional online bookie.

How To Win Betting on Over/Under 2.5 Goals

I’d love to be able to tell you how to win betting on over/under 2.5 goals every single time but that’s just not realistic. However if you are serious about improving your strike rate with these bets then the over/under 2.5 goals strategy advice below is a good place to start.

The key to using this market profitably is understanding the relative strengths and weaknesses of the teams participating in the game.

Specifically for Over/Under 2.5 Goals bets, you want to consider the following factors very closely:

• The current form of the teams involved. Are the teams at present tending to score lots of goals or relatively few in each game? Are the teams involved conceding lots in a game, or relatively few?

• Are there any crucial players missing from each team? For example, a team missing a 20-goal striker through injury will miss their goal scoring talents and this can adversely affect the chances of that team scoring a goal.

• Look at the history of the fixture over the past few years (if available). Does this fixture tend to produce many goals, or do they tend to be tight, defensive games, or a mix of the two?

• If you like to make your bet at the last minute just prior to kick off, then take note of the team selections of both teams and any team news. If your knowledge of the game and the teams involved is strong, you can then deduct from the team selection the likelihood of certain tactics being employed and how this may affect the result of a game. For example, if a manager picks a team with five defenders and just one striker, are they likely to score as many goals as if he picked a team with four defenders and three strikers?

While many punters may have detailed knowledge of the above through personal interest it’s very easy to find the info you need if you don’t.

Personally I use the stats section of the Bet365 website a lot for this type of bet. There’s a ridiculous amount of stats available on over/under 2.5 goals here, too many to list, it’s hands down the best resources available to you. Look out for the icon on the right when on Bet365.

Aside from that I use the BBC sport website to check form, table position, goals for and goals against both home and away. This is all available on their league table pages.

Similar Bets to Over/Under 2.5 Goals

Many bookmakers, including Bet365, offer the chance to bet on different numbers of total goals being scored in any given game. You can bet on their being over or under 0.5, 1.5, 2.5, 3.5, 4.5 and even 5.5 goals in a game.

As the total goes up you’ll likely receive better odds and as it goes down the odds will shorten.

The 2.5 goal market is most popular simply because statistically most games tend to have between two and three goals scored in them, between 2.4 and 2.8 to be exact.