TOTAL GOALS

This market is the basis for nearly every other bet quoted by the firms. From an estimate of the total number of goals in a game, the spread firms will work out supremacy, goal minutes, player performances, shirt-number markets, win indexes and the rest. The quote for the total number of goals in a game is often 2.6-2.8. Statistically, only 2% of games are seven-goal thrillers, only about 25% have more than three goals, and by far the most common scorelines are 1-0 and 1-1. The average Premiership game has just 2.65 goals.

SUPREMACY

As a general rule, people want to back favourites in football and will look to buy rather than sell supremacy (supremacy is a team's winning margin in a football match). The firms mark their price upwards to take this into account, so the value bet is in selling.

Also remember that most spread bettors are still based in the south east, and fashionable London clubs - Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham - attract 'lazy' money from fans. The value bet is often with the underdogs, who are better than the popular view and the spread price suggest.

CORNERS

Until Sporting and IG Index cut the margin on corners to 0.5, gambling on the number of corners in a game was one of the worst-value bets in spread betting. Quotes are set at around 11-12. Buyers should look for teams who play the ball wide, press down the flanks and are statistically proven to shoot a lot, as opposed to teams who try to pass through a defence. The cross-corners market (one team's corners multiplied by the other team's) and multi-corners (first-half corners multiplied by second-half corners) are based on the same figures but are more volatile. You should bet lower stakes on these markets.

GOALSCORERS’ SHIRT NUMBERS

This is one of the most volatile markets in football spreads. The market is calculated by adding together every goalscorer's shirt number in a match, and often determines whether the firms make a profit on a match or not.

Team-sheet information is vital and a goalscoring substitute wearing a high number can cause chaos in a spread firm's offices. As with goals and supremacy markets, spread bettors love to buy shirt numbers, so the value is often in selling.

BOOKINGS

Bookings is the ultimate football market for many, as volatile games can leave you with a big profit or loss. The bookies award 10pts for every yellow and 25pts for every red card, and you bet on the total points value in a match. Pre kick-off quotes for the total points in a match range from the mid- 20s to the mid-60s.

High-bookings leagues (particularly the Spanish Liga) and grudge matches will attract high quotes. In the UK, however, only 4% of matches see a make-up (or result) over 80 and only 1% see a three-figure result.

PLAYER GOAL MINUTES

Another popular market, this adds together all the minutes where a player scores a goal - so a player scoring in the 35th and 55th minutes would make-up at 90. Strikers command the highest quotes, but there's great volatility: if Thierry Henry fails to score, buyers will lose; if he nets a hat-trick, buyers will record big wins. This market also offers a cheap way to back midfielders and central defenders who score their fair share of goals. Selling most players in any game is also popular, as very few names will make it to the scoresheet.

TEAM PERFORMANCE AND SPECIALITY MARKETS

All the firms offer team performance indexes on both live and non-live games, although with different factors contributing to the total. Points are awarded for a combination of winning or drawing a match, scoring goals and gaining corners. Points are lost for bookings and red cards. IG Index includes one point for every minute a team keeps a clean sheet on its live games. As a general rule, avoid performance indexes and concentrate on spotting value in the individual elements that make up the performance index.

Similarly, beware of speciality markets - spread-betting firms are looking for mug punters who buy.