Tipsters caught cold by drab Manchester Derby

The goalless draw at Old Trafford this weekend didn’t just upset the viewing public, Gary Neville-aside it seems, but also upset the applecart amongst the game’s most experienced tipsters.

142 tips were posted on all bettingexpert.com’s 10 language versions, but its tipsters had a difficult time predicting this result, achieving a low strike rate of 22% with 31 winning tips.

The major problem for the tipsters is that a goal-fest was anticipated- indeed it is almost five years and 13 derbies since these two nullified each other in front of goal – and 29% of all tips predicted there being more than 2.5 goals this weekend, with a further 15% backing both teams to score (BTTS).

This was great news for Bet365, by far the most popular bookmaker for the BTTS market for this match this weekend, with 45% of BTTS tips selecting the Stoke bookie for this game, followed by NetBet and Matchbook each with 14%.

Indeed Bet365 was the most popular bookmaker overall throughout bettingexpert’s 10 language versions, recommended by 23% of the website’s tips on this match. Unibet was second with 20% and Matchbook third with 14% of all tips with 43% spread on other sportsbooks.

Gavin Moore of bettingexpert.com said: “The two Manchester defences not only cancelled out the attacking threat posed by England’s two most expensive players in Kevin de Bruyne and Anthony Martial, but they also blunted the effectiveness of our experienced tipsters who were anticipating a goal fiesta. It just goes to show the popularity of Overs and BTTS as betting markets and how lucrative the low-scoring games are now to bookmakers.”