Many bookmakers offer punters the option to bet on ‘both teams to score in both halves’ in football matches, and the odds on this market tend to be quite long based on the fact that at least four goals are required for both teams to score in both halves.
As a result many punters will choose to build an accumulator bet based on both teams scoring in both halves in a match, hoping for a goal-fest which they could profit from.
Goals are obviously the focal point of a football match, after all they determine the winner at the end of the game… but how regularly do both teams score in both halves in a football match? And what factors can have an impact on whether both teams score?
If both teams score in both halves that automatically means the final result will be at least 2-2, and as such games where both teams score in both halves can be referred to as a goal fest. This piece will offer statistics on how many games end up at least 2-2 and how many of these games have both teams scoring in both halves.
Is the frequency with which both teams score in both halves fairly consistent in the top domestic leagues in comparison with lower leagues, or is there a mismatch in the figures based on the standard of football?
This piece is going to run you through some of the numbers surrounding how frequently both teams score in some of the more popular football leagues, and then go through some of the most significant contributing factors in determining whether both teams score in a game.
English Premier League
The elite league in England is the Premier League. It is widely regarded as the best domestic league in the footballing world, and with an annual revenue of over £1 billion it comes as no surprise that the English Premier League is a hotbed for the world’s best individual footballers.
The EPL has a reputation for being a very physical league which boasts some of the toughest defenders in Europe. This would lead you to believe that there may be a distinct lack of goalscoring opportunities in English Premier League games, however this league consistently and regularly throws up results in which there are plenty of goals scored.
The most recent edition of the English Premier League, the 2020/21 season, has offered up some fantastically random results which has given the season a great spark and has been a great watch for the neutral football fan.
Part of this includes games in which both teams score in both halves. These games tend to be action-packed with plenty of shots on target, and generally giving fans the feeling of not knowing which team will prevail until the final whistle blows.
In the first 16 game rounds of the English Premier League there were 15 games in which both teams scored in both halves. These results were as follows:
| Date | Home team | Score | Away team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12/9/20 | Liverpool | 4-3 | Leeds United |
| 19/9/20 | Leeds United | 4-3 | Fulham |
| 19/9/20 | Everton | 5-2 | West Bromwich Albion |
| 20/9/20 | Leicester | 4-2 | Burnley |
| 20/9/20 | Southampton | 2-5 | Tottenham Hotspur |
| 26/9/20 | Brighton | 2-3 | Manchester United |
| 27/9/20 | Manchester City | 2-5 | Leicester City |
| 3/10/20 | Everton | 4-2 | Brighton |
| 4/10/20 | Aston Villa | 7-2 | Liverpool |
| 17/10/20 | Chelsea | 3-3 | Southampton |
| 17/10/20 | Everton | 2-2 | Liverpool |
| 16/12/20 | Leeds United | 5-2 | Newcastle United |
| 17/12/20 | Sheffield United | 2-3 | Manchester United |
| 20/12/20 | Manchester United | 6-2 | Leeds United |
| 26/12/20 | Leicester City | 2-2 | Manchester United |
Based on the scores above, 16 of the 20 teams in the English Premier League have been involved in a game where both teams have scored in both halves, and this is with less than half of the season having been played.
This also means that a lot of teams are displaying a scoring prowess but also a tendency to concede multiple goals even when they are scoring.
In 2020 there were a total of 155 matches played in the 2020/21 season of the English Premier League, which means that 15 of these games having seen both teams score in both halves equates to a frequency of 9.7% of matches.
In terms of what this means for people betting on this market, it could result in a fair bit of value. The odds on both teams to score in both halves varies wildly depending on the teams involved and how they are playing.
These odds are generally 5/1 when they are at the absolute shortest, which would be when two teams who are prolific goal scorers and poor defensively compete against each other. At their longest the odds on this market will be as long as 33/1.
Having said that, odds between 12/1 and 20/1 are fairly typical for a fixture between evenly matched teams.
If you were to regularly bet a level stake on both teams to score in both halves and you were consistently getting odds of 12/1 or longer, with a win frequency of roughly 10%, then you could potentially find value in this market.
English Championship
Prior to the new year there were 260 matches played between the 24 teams competing in the 2020/21 edition of the EFL Championship. Of these 260 games, only nine games have seen both teams score in both halves. That is a rate of roughly 3.5%, which is noticeably less frequent than the figure for the English Premier League.
While the frequency of both teams scoring in both halves is surprisingly low in the EFL Championship, it is worth noting that in this period there were 23 games in which both teams scored at least twice (including those games where both teams scored in both halves), which is 8.85% of the games. It was simply the timing of the goals that resulted in both teams failing to score in both halves.
The games in which both teams scored in both halves in this time period were:
| Date | Home team | Score | Away team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12/9/20 | AFC Bournemouth | 3-2 | Blackburn Rovers |
| 18/9/20 | Coventry City | 3-2 | Queens Park Rangers |
| 27/10/20 | Blackburn Rovers | 2-4 | Reading |
| 4/11/20 | Watford | 3-2 | Stoke City |
| 21/11/20 | Stoke City | 4-3 | Huddersfield Town |
| 28/11/20 | Rotherham United | 2-2 | AFC Bournemouth |
| 28/11/20 | Huddersfield Town | 3-2 | Middlesbrough |
| 5/12/20 | Brentford | 2-2 | Blackburn Rovers |
| 16/12/20 | Cardiff City | 3-2 | Birmingham City |
A total of 13 different teams have been involved in games where both teams scored in both halves – this is over half of the league. This is not much of a surprise as the EFL Championship has a reputation as the most competitive league in the world, possibly second only to the Premier League.
This is a league where ‘everybody beats everybody’ – it is often seen that relegation-threatened sides manage to beat a team near the top of the table. It is a truly unpredictable league and this results in a lot of high-scoring matches. The gulf in standard between the top of the league and the bottom of the league is commonly regarded as a lot smaller than the gulf in standard of the Premier League’s best and worst teams.
Betting odds on both teams to score in both halves in the EFL Championship are usually at least 12/1 at their shortest, but more commonly hover at around 16/1. Sometimes the odds will be as long as 25/1 or 33/1. As a result there is plenty of value in betting on both teams to score in both halves EFL Championship matches even though there seems to be a low frequency of this occurring.
League One
The 2020/21 EFL League One season is the 17th edition of the competition and it got underway on 12th September 2020. From the start of the season to 31st December 2020, there were a total of 227 matches played in the league with a goal tally of 600, at a rate of 2.64 goals per match.
In this period there have been 14 games where both teams have scored in both halves, and on top of this there have been a further 14 games where both teams have scored at least twice, but where at least one of the teams only scored in one half.
This corresponds to both teams scoring in both halves in 6.17% of games. Both teams have scored at least twice in 12.34% of games, regardless of whether both teams score in both halves or not.
As a result there is a moderately frequent occurrence of both teams scoring in both halves, with the potential for this figure to easily double given that both teams score at least twice but only in one half as frequently as they score in both halves.
The table below shows the list of games in which both teams have scored in both halves:
| Date | Home team | Score | Away team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19/9/20 | Wigan Athletic | 2-3 | Gillingham |
| 19/9/20 | AFC Wimbledon | 4-4 | Plymouth Argyle |
| 26/9/20 | Swindon Town | 4-2 | Burton Albion |
| 3/10/20 | Blackpool | 2-3 | Lincoln City |
| 20/10/20 | Oxford United | 3-2 | Milton Keynes Dons |
| 27/10/20 | Peterborough United | 2-2 | Burton Albion |
| 3/11/20 | AFC Wimbledon | 2-2 | Doncaster Rovers |
| 14/11/20 | Shrewsbury Town | 3-3 | Swindon Town |
| 24/11/20 | Burton Albion | 4-2 | Charlton Athletic |
| 2/12/20 | Shrewsbury Town | 2-2 | Accrington Stanley |
| 15/12/20 | Blackpool | 3-2 | Hull City |
| 19/12/20 | Swindon Town | 2-2 | Charlton Athletic |
| 29/12/20 | Plymouth Argyle | 2-3 | Oxford United |
| 29/12/20 | Burton Albion | 3-4 | Wigan Athletic |
There have been a total of 16 teams involved in games where both teams have scored in both halves, which is two thirds of the league. That means a lot of teams are capable of scoring plenty of goals but also simultaneously culpable to conceding in both halves.
The odds on both teams to score in both halves in EFL League One fixtures generally range from 10/1 to 14/1 in most matches, and every so often you will find shorter odds of roughly 8/1 or longer odds as long as 25/1.
The standard of football in League One is notably lower than the standard in the Championship, and a prime example of this is Luton Town’s league-winning season in 2018/19 having just been promoted from League Two. A side that wins a league having just been promoted into it tells you that the standard is not particularly high.
Because of this, punters can find plenty of value in betting on both teams to score in both halves in this league having considered the odds available in conjunction with the frequency with which this occurs.
League Two
The statistics for the 2020/21 EFL League Two season with regards to both teams scoring in both halves are fairly similar to the figures for League One. Out of the 244 League Two games played in 2020 in this season there were 13 games where both teams scored in both halves, compared to 14 in League One.
On top of this, in the same period there were 18 games where both teams scored at least twice but one of the two teams failed to score in both halves – this is in comparison with 14 games in League One.
That makes 5.33% of games in the 2020/21 League Two season games in which both teams scored in both halves. A further 7.38% of games see both teams score twice but at least one team only scores in one half.
| Date | Home team | Score | Away team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 26/9/20 | Oldham Athletic | 2-3 | Crawley Town |
| 10/10/20 | Southend United | 2-2 | Exeter City |
| 17/10/20 | Leyton Orient | 2-3 | Grimsby Town |
| 17/10/20 | Carlisle United | 3-2 | Colchester United |
| 24/10/20 | Barrow | 2-2 | Walsall |
| 27/10/20 | Mansfield Town | 2-4 | Barrow |
| 24/11/20 | Barrow | 3-4 | Oldham Athletic |
| 28/11/20 | Port Vale | 2-3 | Leyton Orient |
| 1/12/20 | Harrogate Town | 2-5 | Scunthorpe United |
| 5/12/20 | Cheltenham Town | 5-3 | Exeter City |
| 5/12/20 | Bolton Wanderers | 3-6 | Port Vale |
| 12/12/20 | Crawley Town | 4-2 | Barrow |
| 26/12/20 | Scunthorpe United | 2-3 | Mansfield Town |
The betting odds on both teams to score in both halves for League Two are again very similar to League One. Odds are usually between 10/1 and 16/1, but every now and then will be as short as 8/1 or as long as 25/1.
Given the frequency of which both teams score at least twice in League Two games (12.7%), the odds which this market is generally offered at make it very good value for football fans to bet on. All that matters is the timing of the goals.
Final Thoughts
To wrap it up, there is no doubt that it takes a lot for both teams to score in both halves, especially with the amount of variables at play – so much so that it is surprising just how regularly it occurs across various leagues.
You would not necessarily think both teams would score a goal in both halves so regularly considering the average amount of goals per game lingers around 2.5 to 2.9 most seasons – plus it requires a mixture of quality attacking prowess and lacklustre defending which is rare in most sides.
The statistics point towards there being more games in lower leagues where both teams score at least twice, but the proportion of games in which both teams score in both halves seems fairly similar across the leagues.
Bookmakers consistently offer good value odds on the market of both teams to score in both halves, considering how regularly a bet on this market would win, there could be value out there for savvy punters.
