Both Teams To Score Advice

Updated: 25739 Learning

Both teams to score (BTTS) has become one of the most popular football betting markets in recent years and could soon overtake 1x2 as the most popular type of bet to include in football accumulators.

Both Teams To Score Advice
Steve Madgwick Editor-In-Chief

Editor-In-Chief with 20 years experience covering the betting angles to breaking news stories. Daily slots player, Portsmouth fan and League Snooker Player

BTTS

Both Teams To Score - Yes

This is the most popular form of the two options and is a bet where you think both teams will get on the scoresheet during the 90 minutes.

This BTTS Yes bet encourages the punter to look for the more exciting matches where goals are expected. 

You must check the odds with the best betting sites to ensure you are taking the best odds.

 Both Teams To Score - No 

Here you are saying that at least one of the teams will not score

It is not quite as popular as BTTS-Yes because many of us place bets in the most competitive games (Super Sunday, top-of-the-table clashes, when title rivals take each other on, etc.) and our natural bias is seeing an open end to end game to entertain us. 

You can check tipsters predictions on BTTS on every football match in the OLBG football tipster competition.  


Both BTTS Yes/No options regularly feature in Bet Builder markets, this type of bet despite or maybe because of the long odds are growing in popularity.

We investigated the Best Bet Builder Sites with our comprehensive comparison of 64 online bookmakers. 

Recent Form

When it comes to BTTS most punters will look at recent form.

With both teams to score, you must always look at the offensive and defensive records of BOTH teams involved in the game. 

Just because one team scores and concedes many goals in most matches doesn't mean they'll repeat that against all teams.

If they meet a team that scores plenty but has a tight defence, you'll most likely see one team score but not necessarily the other.

Look for matches where both teams score in most games, and both teams rarely keep clean sheets. 

For example, At the start of the 2023/24 season, Brighton, in their opening 16 games, had scored and conceded in all of them, 

The more they both concede and score, the more likely both teams are to score, you can see below what percentage of EPL  games saw both teams scoring

2022-232021-222020-212019-202018-192017-2018
52%50%49%51%51%48%


Home And Away

Image: Lachlan Fearnley/Wikimedia CommonsAs with all football bets, home and away form must be considered entirely separately. . 

Some teams can produce completely different form at home than away, so just because a team looks a good bet in the both teams to score market based on their home form, it doesn't mean that will translate to their away form (and vice versa).

Most teams set up more cautiously away from home with often their first aim not to get beat. 

Tactics

Image: pnefc.netThis should be a significant consideration but is sometimes overlooked by punters. Teams that are conceding lots of goals know they have to improve defensively and eventually will do something about it.

Look out for manager comments and possible selection changes during the week in case changes are being made to the lineup to address the defensive problems.

The OLBG tip comments on specific matches may assist you with tactics and team news.

Tip Comment

Tottenham has won 9 drawn 3 and lost 4 of their 16 league games played and sits 5th in the Premiership with 30 points, winning their last last league game played 4-1 at home against Newcastle. Tottenham has scored 33 goals and conceded 23 goals in their 16 league games played; Nottm Forest has won 3, drawn five and lost 8 of their 16 league games played and sits 16th in the Premiership with 14 points drawing their last league game played 1-1 away against Wolves. Nottm Forest has scored 17 goals and conceded 28 goals in their 16 league games played. I am taking this match to have over 2.5 goals scored in this game tonight. OLBG tipster Delboy

The type of opposition a team is facing can also have a significant bearing on tactics. A team that often plays an open style of football can suddenly change their style of play when coming up against one of the top teams if they deem a point would be a good result. 

'Parking the bus' is becoming increasingly common, so look at results against similar quality teams when weighing up a team's chances of being involved in both teams to score. 

You might find that against teams of equal or weaker quality, they concede and score many goals, but against the very best teams, there is often only a goal either way. 

These patterns are often no coincidence and relate to the tactics employed by that team against certain types and qualities of opposition.

Match Importance

Look for games for your BTTS bet where there is a need for both teams to pick up three points or to progress to the next round. 

Be wary of European competition group stages where some teams that have already qualified or already been knocked out put out weakened teams. 

Avoid mid-table teams towards the end of the season that have nothing to play for.

Expected Goals (xG) 

A relatively recent innovation to aid us in our decision-making is expected goals (xG).

This is a measurement of the quality of goal scoring chances in a game that is then given a numerical figure. 

Tables are collated, and you can quickly see which teams are creating the most chances and which teams are allowing the opposition the most chances. 


Crucially, over a period of time, you can see which teams are creating and converting chances and which are goal-shy and rarely trouble the opposition. 

These figures will help determine whether a game will see BTTS. 

You can see in the table Man City beating Arsenal at the Emirates that there xG was superior to the Gunners. 

Even if you had not watched the game that figure gives you an idea that City created more than the home side. 

If they continue in games creating these kind of figures that can indicate that City will create chances when away from home in the future. 

Alternatively, if the results had been 1-1 but the xG was the same Man City could count themselves unlucky not to have won the game, 

This is another indicator that on a different day Man City could be worth following when away from home next time.

If they are taking on another team whose xG has been high in recent weeks then we could see a goal fest and BTTS.

TeamTeam 
Arsenal (1)Man City (3)
xG 1.87xG 2.42

Please check out the XG Table (Stats & Impact on Football Betting) for further info. 

Team News

Team news is more critical in this bet than any other football bet, considering you are relying on both teams' attack and defence. 

A team that is ordinarily strong defensively can look a lot shakier when their best centre half is out injured. 

Likewise, a defence that has looked rocky in recent weeks can improve suddenly if a missing quality player returns.

Some teams are heavily reliant on one or two players to score their goals, other teams spread the goals around the team. 

Photo: Shutterstock/ph.FABThose latter teams need not worry about the odd injury, but if backing both teams to score in a game involving one of the teams that are heavily reliant on one or two goalscorers, then checking team news is crucial. 

If the top goalscorer is out injured, the chances of that team scoring suddenly reduce massively.

Value

As with all bets,getting value should be a huge consideration.

Just because both teams look likely to score, it doesn't make it a value bet.

Consider the odds and how many times out of ten you'd expect both teams to score in the game considering all the variables (sendings off, injuries, etc). 

If you think you'd have made a profit in those ten matches over the long term, then it's a value bet. 

The more profit you think you'd have made in those ten playings of the match, the better value it should be.

Consider Other Markets

Before you back a standard btts (yes/no) consider what other similar bets you could place. 

These Paddy Power odds came from a 2023-24 EPL match

Alternatively there are no goalscorer bets  and both teams to win to nil. 

Would any of those present a better value bet? 

All  of those bets are available at pretty decent odds, and if one team has a much better chance of winning than the other, a bet on that team to win to nil might offer better value.

If you think both teams will struggle to score, then no goalscorer (or even under 1.5 goals) might offer better value, but if you want to play things safe and still think both teams not scoring is good value, then there is nothing wrong with placing that bet.


Take a look at all the most popular football bets to see if an alternative offers better value. 

Match Result And Both Teams To Score

This increasingly popular bet combines both teams to score with the traditional bet of picking the match result and can provide some big returns in accumulators. 

This is thanks to the relatively big odds available in each single. With traditional match betting, there is no limit to how short a team can be to win, depending on how mismatched the teams are. 

However, the more superiority one team has over another, the less likely the lesser team is to score.

 In the more competitive matches, where both teams would be deemed likely to score, there is not usually a strong favourite to win the match; therefore, the odds of picking the winner AND both teams scoring can't be too short. 

In most cases, the favourite in this market will be somewhere between 5/2 and 7/2.

How The Match Result And BTTS Odds Can Stack Up

Backing four teams that are fairly likely to win their matches in an accumulator can provide a decent return:

Leg 1Leg 2Leg 3Leg 4Accumulator Odds
1/24/64/65/66.5

However, backing four teams that are fairly likely to win their matches plus both teams to score can provide huge returns:

Leg 1Leg 2Leg 3Leg 4Accumulator Odds
5/23/17/27/2283.00

This shows just why punters are switching to the match result and both teams to score market.

Obviously, with bigger odds comes bigger risks, but the differences in odds between the match result and this market often look great value.

A free bet promotion can often be the best way to test out a big priced Match Result And BTTS accumulator. 

You can test out your accumulator returns here. 


Match Result/BTTS Summary

Probably the main consideration with this Match Result/BTTS bet is to realise is that this is two bets. You are predicting the match results (HDA) and BTTS. 

The odds will be greater but if you feel that it will be a thriller with both teams "going for it" then the odds may offer some value.   

BTTS FAQ

  • Does BTTS count in Extra Time?

    BTTS counts for 'normal time' time in a football match. This is the 90 minutes schedule playing time, plus any injury time added on to either half of the game. BTTS does not count for any extra time periods played in a match that has to be concluded in a competition format, unless otherwise stated by the bookmaker. 

  • How do you predict both teams will score?

    If you want to bet on both teams to score then you need to find the BTTS odds columns on the football coupon. In terms of working out which games will result in both teams scoring, that will be something for you to consider with your own judgment in assessing the probability of the outcome. As a shortcut, you could follow some BTTS football Tips.

  • What does both teams to score 2+ mean?

    When you see BTTS+2 it mean that you are predicting both teams to score 2 or more goals. It is with the understanding that any game where you make this prediction, you will be expecting at least a 2-2 scoreline. something that does not happen as often as you might think. Unless you can get odds of at least 14/1 on this bet, then it would not be really worth making.

  • Which league has most BTTS

    The league with the most BTTS results can and does change each season. As a rule of thumb, if you are looking for football leagues that have most BTTS results, you should look down the divisional tables to much lower league football where the quality of defenses may not be as good and as such more goals scored by either side.

  • What Kind of Odds Can I expect to receive on BTTS

    A scan of a random weekend of EPL matches shows the average odds for BTTS between 8/13  and 5/4.  



  • Is BTTS a good bet?

    BTTS - aka 'Both Teams To Score' is a good bet for anyone who likes a bet to last the full 90 minutes of a football match. In a BTTS Acca bet, you have all of the time of a football match offering a chance for your bet to win. BTTS is a very popular football bet which has been around since the Goals Galore coupon was launched. One of the reasons it is so popular is that people like to predict things to happen such as Both teams to score, as opposed to predicting something not to happen, like both teams not to score. 

  • Should I bet BTTS and Match the Result or just BTTS?

    After diligently undertaking your research, you should place a bet that you consider offers some value. If you have a strong opinion on the result then that is an option

Responsible Gambling

With any form of betting everyone needs to only wager what they can sensibly afford. 

On OLBG we have a host of responsible gambling articles including the one below. 

Responsible Gambling Features, Function and Help
ALSO READ

Responsible Gambling Features, Function and Help

Editorial Information

The BTTS school article has been updated regularly to ensure any pertinent information is added. Nigel Skinner collated the latest iteration of the BTTS advice.

Nigel Skinner

Nigel Skinner

Blog content manager

Nigel is one of OLBG's senior editors with 19 years of industry experience. Today he specialises in researching and writing about the betting angles to political and mainstream news stories and being the OLBG in-house expert on 'next football manager' betting markets.

Specialist Subjects🔬📚

⚽️👨‍💼 Nigel is an Arsenal fan first and foremost but has an unrivalled knowledge of English football managers at every level. Meticulously putting together our Next Manager articles, Nigel can quite possibly name you every manager of every club in the land, not to mention a pretty good eye for predicting replacements when changes happen. 

📈📊📉 A long-time exchange trader and spread betting fan, Nigel is our go-to for advice on the subjects and uses them daily in his own betting activity. 

🗳️💼 Finally, Nigel loves his politics and [some would say] has an unhealthy interest in the day-to-day events in the UK's political landscape, contributing to all our Political betting content and new pieces.

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