How to analyse a football game?

Football is definitely the most popular sport among bettors (it's soccer for Americans). Anybody who has watched a couple of football games can think about some basic predictions, but there's more to it.

Actual form

This is one of the most important factors. Look at both teams' performance and consider the last 5 matches of each team. If a team won the last 4-5 games, bookmakers lower their odds. Every team has good and bad series. One team might have a series of losses but then something might change and they improve. This is what you have to notice before their odds get lower.

Injured and banned players

It's important to know about injuries and players banned from a team's next game. Both factors can completely change a team's performance and this can be used in your advantage. This information is available on the Internet and can be obtained fast. Do your research.

The importance of a particular match

Some matches are more important for a team than others. This is why you shouldn't bet on friendly and cup matches, teams don't pay too much attention to these matches. This is where the most suprising results occur.

It's important to know that big team plays a lot of matches in a season. Some of these are played against smaller teams, especially in cups and the team management decides to let the important players rest.

The state and quality of the football field

Rains and snow can affect the quality of the grass on a football field. These factors can completely change the way a team plays and usually affects the number of goals. Pay attention to this when making under/over predictions.

Weather forecasts

It's good to know what the weather conditions will be on the day of the match for the same reasons that were explained above. If the weather conditions are too bad a match can also be postponed.

Statistics

A lot of bettors rely on statistics especially when they don't have enough time to get all the information or to make a complete prediction. Statistics are very useful, but they are ONLY numbers and these numbers don't consider the human factor. Keeping this in mind you can always use statistics but remember that they are not always accurate.

Standing/ranking tables

Standing tables are useless in the first months of a season and you shouldn't rely on them. Wait for a couple of games to be played before using standings in your decision.

Motivation

Teams playing on home ground have a better motivation and they have to maintain their reputation for the supporters. A good source of motivation for smaller teams is to beat a bigger team, especially for the players who can prove themselves and hopefully obtain better contracts.

Another thing you may consider is the relationship between the players and their coach.

Previous matches

You can check both team's previous games and also the previous games played against each other in the same season (if there are any) or last season's matches against each other.