The best time to take the lead in a football match is in the last seconds. It means the opposition will kick off with virtually no time to equalise. In contrast, scoring in the first minute provides an excellent start but plenty of time for opponents to get back into the game. Football is the most popular game in the world and no competition is more popular than the English Premiership that has huge viewing figures across every continent. It is also a game that offers gamblers an opportunity to place bets on everything between the first scorer and total goals in the game to the simple half time and full time scores.
Those huge viewing figures have meant competition from different companies wanting to buy the rights to live broadcast packages. Every time the rights come up for bidding, the numbers increase and the likelihood is when the next bidding takes place the result could be that the EPL will receive in excess of £4 billion per year.
Broadcasting Revenue
As a result, the minimum that a club in the English Premier League can expect will be £60 – £70 million per annum. It is little wonder that players and their agents see this as an opportunity to negotiate substantial annual salaries. While the competition usually throws up the same teams each year vying for the title, it does not mean that there are not a number of surprises each week. It makes online betting on each week’s fixtures very popular. The growth of Internet betting means gamblers can sit down before the weekend programme begins to decide which games to look at and the individual bets to place.
Expert Predictions
There are pundits who broadcasters such as the BBC and Sky use to predict the scores each week. It is surprising how difficult they usually find it to predict the winners of each game, never mind the actual scores. The top clubs, Chelsea and Manchester City and to a lesser extent Manchester United and Arsenal, are usually odds on to win unless playing each other. Gamblers looking for value can look beyond the result and perhaps choose the first or last goal scorer instead.
Shocks
The beauty of the Premiership is that there are regular shocks. At the end of the 2013/14 season Sunderland who were struggling to avoid relegation won successive away games at Chelsea and Manchester United. Anyone who picked those results would have had every reason to celebrate. They would not have been alone; the huge following that supports this famous north east club celebrated as well when against the odds they survived to compete in the Premiership in the current season.
The usual suspects head the EPL again this season but there is always a shock just around the corner; the secret for the keen football gambler is to predict it.