Football Predictions For The Week

Predicting how football matches will go is arguably among the hardest endeavours, although it is tempting to believe that with just three results possible, one should be able to make an intelligent guess, more often than not.

Take a look at bookmakers’ odds, for instance. With money riding on the result of a sporting encounter, professional bookies use mathematical algorithms to work out odds on teams to ensure that their risks are hedged. These odds change as a match progresses; a goal by either side would tilt the odds in favour of said team.

The general assumption is that because “bookies put their money where their mouth is”, gambling information and statistics represent a fair approximation of the relative strengths of teams in the fray.

If you are looking for predictions on the results of this week’s football matches featuring your favourite teams, take a look at the following table. (Note: These predictions do not include matches in the English Premier League; to read our predictions on these matches, click on the Predictions link above this article.)

Important: To find the information you seek, even more quickly, enter the names of your teams, in the search bar above the table.

Date	Event	Home	Away	Predicted winner/ result
18/8/2012	English Blue Square Premier	Hyde	Lyon	Lyon
18/8/2012	English Championship	Cardiff	Huddersfield	Cardiff
18/8/2012	French Ligue 1	Lille	Nancy	Lille
18/8/2012	English League 1	Yeovil	Coventry	Coventry
18/8/2012	English Championship	Barnsley	Middlesbrough	Middlesbrough
18/8/2012	English Blue Square Premier	Ebbsfleet	Wrexham	Wrexham
18/8/2012	Scottish Division 3	Clyde	Peterhead	Peterhead
18/8/2012	Dutch Eredivise	NAC Breda	Twente	Twente
18/8/2012	Ireland Premier League	Shelbourne	Sligo Rovers	Sligo Rivers
18/8/2012	English Blue Square Bet North	Histon	Guiseley	Guiseley
18/8/2012	English Blue Square Bet North	Oxford City	Chester	Chester

But these statistics also get skewed a little when on the weight of their own information they attract bets for a particular team. In direct proportion to the number of bets placed, the odds on a particular team get skewed in said team’s favour to the extent that it no longer resembles the odds compiled using the original algorithm.

Thus crowd favourites such as, for instance, Barcelona FC, are likely to attract odds that are more favourable to them than their current form would suggest, and these odds in their turn are likely to persuade impartial bettors to wager their money on the team.

Bookmakers are not unduly perturbed by such skewing; in fact, they stand to earn more if bets placed show a disproportionate bias in favour of a player or team that is unlikely to win, on a particular day.

At the end of the day, nothing prevents every bookie site from assuring you that the algorithm they use is better than any competitor’s. Typically, such sites run down competitors’ sites with words of wisdom on the following lines:

“When it comes to making football picks most pro football handicappers & sports betting experts get stuffed at the goal line, because they use XYZ gambling info & ABC betting stats already factored into DEF pro football lines when determining their XYZ football picks & predictions each week…”

Disclaimer: At Sportingattitude.com, we do not make any claim as to the accuracy of our predictions. We advocate responsible betting; if you chose to gamble on the basis of these predictions, you would be doing so at your sole risk and responsibility.

Tags: Barcelona, Betting, Prediction, Result

Category: Football, Predictions