Football Betting Strategy: Both Teams to Score Market

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Football Betting Strategy: Both Teams to Score Market

Everyone enjoys a goal-fest when they settle down to watch Match of the Day, but picking and choosing which teams will run rampant and which will stand strong can be a rewarding tactic for football betting too.

Betting Against Both Teams To Score

If you're a gambler who plays the numbers, the best way to approach the 'both teams to score' (BTTS) market is as a contrarian. Betting against both teams scoring usually snags the better odds

When it comes to betting on football, the Both Teams to Score market (BTTS) is one of the most popular options. After all, what could be more simpler for a punter than simply predicting either “Yes” (both teams will score in the game) or “No” (at least one team will fail to score during the ninety minutes).

Many betting customers also like to choose the BTTS market when they’re not sure which team are going to win a football match but have an opinion regarding the number of goals that will be scored. The majority of Both Teams to Score include the “Yes” selection so that punters can cheer on both teams when they go on the attack and it’s possible to win with this bet well before the final whistle for obvious reasons.

How to Bet on Both Teams to Score

When you visit one of the top online bookies, it’s a simple case of clicking through to the Football / Soccer section and then choosing the football match which interests you the most. You then scroll through the most popular markets until you find “Both Teams to Score” and you might have something like this:

Manchester United v Arsenal BTTS

Yes 1.61

No 2.20

If you bet on Yes at 1.61 for this game, you need Manchester United and Arsenal to score at least one goal each. The outcome of the game doesn’t matter and you would win your bet if the match ended 5-1, 3-3 or 1-1.

If you bet on No at 2.20 for this game, then you need at least one of Manchester United and Arsenal to draw a blank. A goalless draw would be ideal, although a victory to nil for either side would also land you a profit with this bet. The good news is that the game is 0-0 when it kicks off although you’re effectively willing teams not to score throughout the match.

Once you have found the match and the best premier league betting odds, it’s a simple case of clicking on the odds and this pick will be added to your bet slip. You can then choose a stake to bet and confirm your wager before sitting back and seeing whether this football bet yields a profit or not.

Scoreboard Draw

How to Place a BTTS Accumulator Bet

The Both Teams to Score betting market is a relatively modern one and was originally pioneered by bookmaker Betfred who came up with a “Goals Galore” coupon so that punters had an attractive alternative to the Full-Time Result market when it came to putting together a weekend football accumulator. The popularity of a BTTS accumulator was instant and the Betfred coupon was focused on the “Yes” option with this bet.

Now you can visit any online betting site and find this betting market among the popular options for any football match. Because this is a two-way market, the odds are always going to be on the short side for the “Yes” and the “No” option, although this appeals to accumulator backers who are able to load up a BTTS accumulator and hope that they can correctly predict the right outcome for each game.

A BTTS football acca works quite simply and just involves clicking on the “Yes” or “No” betting odds for each match which are then automatically added to your online bet slip. As soon as you’re happy with the selections and the cumulative odds, you can then place your bet with a nominated stake and hopefully cheer your bet on to victory.

Combine BTTS with the Full-Time Result Market

Sometimes a customer might really fancy a football team to win their game only to discover that their 1x2 football odds are trading quite short and that might make for a risky single bet. However, there’s the opportunity to combine the Full-Time Result betting market with Both Teams to Score in order to boost the odds and potential return that this wager will yield, something that can be a good deal more profitable.

Let’s say Manchester United are trading at 2.00 to beat Arsenal in the Premier League at Old Trafford. You might fancy the Red Devils but also think they’ll claim a victory as part of a high-scoring encounter against the Gunners. You could then scroll to the Result / Both Teams to Score betting market and bet on United at 3.75 to win along with both teams finding the net.

Alternatively, a bookie might be offering 3.75 that Manchester United win and the “No” option on the Both Teams to Score betting market. This is effectively like saying that United will win and keep a clean sheet considering that they can’t win the game if they don’t score themselves. Ultimately this betting market is highly popular because it yields a bigger potential return than just betting on BTTS.

Scoreboard Old Trafford

Use the Latest Football Stats to Place Your BTTS Bets

Here comes the million dollar question: how do you know whether to bet on “Yes” or “No” when it comes to the Both Teams to Score betting market?

To answer this question let’s put it into context. At the beginning of the premier league season, it is especially difficult to know whether to bet yes or no, as there is no data available regarding any of the teams and customers are left to look at historic stats from previous campaigns in order to determine how attack-minded each team is likely to be. However, as the campaign progresses, we are able to do our homework and understand the likelihood of a premier league match triggering “Yes” or “No” on the BTTS market.

Sometimes it’s a simple case of going through a team’s recent matches and seeing if any patterns can be detected when looking at the various scorelines. For example, Liverpool during the 2020/21 football season had three consecutive matches that looked like this:

Aston Villa 7-2 Liverpool

Everton 2-2 Liverpool

Liverpool 2-1 Sheffield United

When it came to the Reds facing West Ham, many punters therefore wanted to place a bet on the “Yes” option when it came to the BTTS market and that was a profitable wager after Jurgen Klopp’s side came from 1-0 down to win the game 2-1. This bet didn’t involve heavy research and was a simple case of accessing some historic results to help punters guide what might happen for the next match.

Check the Latest Team News Before Betting on BTTS

There are lots of important factors that need to be taken into account when betting on this football market and we would put team news high on the list. Looking at that zany 7-2 scoreline involving Aston Villa and Liverpool, the visitors were found to be missing first-choice goalkeeper Alisson Becker and that clearly had a bearing on the number of goals scored by the home side, although Ross Barkley was also making his debut for the Villans.



Shortly after that game, Liverpool were without leading defender Virgil van Dijk and that’s another reason to explain why so many of the Reds’ matches were now featuring both teams finding the net. Team news like this is worth checking for any Premier League match and the same applies to other football leagues, with special focus needed on defensive and attacking players.

If Manchester City are missing Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus, then it’s possible that they’ll place with a false nine and not have as much attacking menace as a result. You should also consider the relative ambitions of a team in a particular game when betting on BTTS. If a side is determined to keep a clean sheet at all costs, then they might struggle to carry the ball into the opposition half, making the “No” option on the BTTS betting market more attractive.

What are the Recommended Betting Sites for a BTTS Bet?

Thankfully, every bookmaker featured on this page offers customers the chance to bet on Both Teams to Score and you can either choose to place single or multiple bets when it comes to this market. You will find that every bookie creates a different price for the same outcome and it’s therefore worth shopping around in order to land the biggest odds about the selections you want to back.

We would look at trying to land some kind of free bet or welcome bonus when you sign up with each different operator and it’s also worth looking at their promotions section to see if you can land yourself a bonus with a BTTS bet. Sometimes a bookie is willing to add an extra bonus on top of Both Teams to Score accumulator winnings depending on the number of selections that you make.

WATCH: What Are Free Bets? And How to Use Them


Place an In-Play Both Teams to Score Bet When the Game is Live

Shrewd betting customers often wait for a game to kick off before deciding to place their bets. If you think about it, it makes obvious sense considering that a football manager is unlikely to divulge too many tactics before the game starts, although the formation and style of play becomes glaringly obvious just a few minutes into a particular match. Are both teams adopting an attacking approach and carving out chances immediately?

The Both Teams to Score betting market is one of the most popular In-Play beeting markets although it should be noted that the odds become less competitive if / when the opening goal has been scored as the “Yes” option then just requires their opponents to find the net. However, should the opening goal be scored in the 75th minute of the game, then the BTTS market can be an exciting option as the opposition chase an equaliser between then and the final whistle.

How to Cash Out Your Both Teams to Score Acca

We live in the age of bookies that offer Cash Out, with punters regularly closing out their football bets before the final whistle and that’s especially the case when it comes to footy accumulators. Considering that Both Teams to Score is a popular two-way betting market, it goes without saying that many punters go for the accumulator option where you can go through a long list of football matches and pick out what you think is going to happen.

Let’s say you have a BTTS acca with five different selections and the first three win. You might then be offered a lucrative Cash Out value as part of your bet which represents a sizeable profit. You are then given the option to either cash out the wager for a profit or alternatively stay in the bet and see if your remaining selections win for the full pay out.

WATCH: What is a Football Betting Accumulator?


It’s nice to have the Cash Out option although punters need to weigh up whether their bookie is offering a value amount of money based on the selections that they’ve already landed and the odds for the ones that are remaining. It’s often the case that a betting site will want you to Cash Out and take a lower amount rather than pay out the full amount although some customers would argue that a profit is a profit.

There is sometimes the choice to enjoy Partial Cash Out with your BTTS accumulator and that means being able to take some winnings out of the bet and leave the remaining stake to go on the other selections. It’s great to have the flexibility to do this and have the best of both worlds, although you should always remember why you placed this Both Teams to Score acca in the first place.

Consider Different Football Leagues for BTTS Bets

It might be that you know the English Premier League inside out, although so do the bookmakers and you might find it hard to gain an edge with a Both Teams to Score bet when it comes to the ten games that take place every week. However, the bottom line is that there are hundreds of football leagues being played all over the world and some involve a higher average goal count than others.

Therefore, if you’re looking to place bets on the “Yes” option on the Both Teams to Score betting market, whether that’s a single or accumulator bet, then it pays to consider other European football leagues (like La Liga) where you might be able to detect a pattern. It’s effectively spreading your net wider in search of a profit and many punters are able to catch an early price and profit this way.

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