We all love a weekend accumulator. It’s always a fun thing to cheer on, and I’ll more often than not have one in my Latest Football Tips. But how can you ensure you have the best chance of picking up that big pay day? It’s all about finding the value in the market and that centres around scouring a strong portfolio of websites in order to have a greater depth of research and knowledge in the bank.
This guide to picking a winning accumulator is about some best practices to consider when picking your own accumulator, but you can also take a look my most recent football accumulator tips if you’re interested.
It’s always a good start to look at form as a side on a winning run will be high on confidence whereas a team on a poor run may struggle from a mental block, however, good and bad runs don’t last forever. So if you notice some interesting pre-match comments from managers about possible injury or logistical issues then the value could be with the outsiders in some cases.
Football Accumulator Tips – Access the key data
There are a variety of websites you can use to get as much information as possible to aid you in your search for a weekend accumulator tips. The emergence of underlying performance data in the past few years has been of interest to punters who want to look deeper than just basic form or results. Often this data has been behind a paywall but a few sources such as The Analyst are freely accessible to the public.
Factors such as expected goals (xG) both for and against can show if a certain team is on an unsustainable run should they keep performing at the level they currently are. On the other hand, a team could have been unlucky with a few of their losses and xG lets you see if they have been hard done by on the balance of play.
You may be looking down the coupon and see a side on a 5 game winning run at much more attractive odds than you anticipated, the reason for that tends to be that their underlying data is actually quite poor and their run is unsustainable unless they improve. Using xG may give you an edge on the ordinary punter who will be going purely off form guides and league tables.
Other websites that can be of great use when trying to nail down your accumulator tips include SoccerStats and WhoScored which can give you a run down on game by game stats as well as home/away form.
Stick to the leagues you know best
Betting on leagues and teams you have greater knowledge on is always a good way to boost confidence when picking out your accumulator. If you’re taking selections from leagues far and wide with little data around them then you can have no excuse if that team lets you down. At least taking picks from leagues you’re comfortable with you know you’ve done the research process correctly.
Supplement your picks with some strong favourites
Punters may not like to back 1/5 shots outright given the lack of return should it win, that’s why many like the process of selection an accumulator to try boost the price. You can supplement some bigger priced fancies that you see as value with some short priced teams to get your accumulator.
Some bookmakers offer a boost the more selections you have in your accumulator, such as Bet365 with their ‘Soccer Accumulator Bonus’ which sees up to a 70% bonus for accumulators on a wide range of selected leagues and competitions. This is a great offer if you’re one to complement your selections with heavy odds-on favourites who you’re very confident of getting a result.
Make sure you get the best price possible
Far too often people settle for less than they should when it comes to betting. One tip is to have as many accounts with a variety of bookmakers so you can get the biggest return possible for your accumulator. For a list of my recommended bookmakers and their sign up offers, see my Free Bets page.
For instance, if you had £10 placed on a 6 fold accumulator at 40/1 and it won then you’ll obviously be delighted, but that same bet may have been available at 50/1 elsewhere and would’ve earned you an extra £100. Getting maximum value is the way to be profitable in the long term.
Some firms offer a boosted price on your acca such as William Hill with their ‘Acca Freedom’ promotion which will boost anything from a treble upwards, limited to one time per day.
Some firms, such as Ladbrokes, also offer ‘Acca Insurance’ which allows you to get your money back should one team let you down, something that happens to everyone. Often these promotions are only applicable if there are a certain volume of teams in your accumulator.
Play the long term game
Naturally, if you’re betting on accumulators at sizeable odds you’re not going to win every week. Betting is about probabilities and it’s important to stay disciplined if your accumulator loses. Keeping a calm head and thinking about the long term game is crucial, setting expectations too high could ultimately lead you to lack confidence in your future picks.
If you place one 20/1 accumulator per week, with level stakes, for 40 weeks, then you only have to win 2 of those 40 accumulators to break-even. If you win any more than two then you’re in profit and it’s happy days. Trust your process and stay disciplined to ultimately be successful.
