There are many different stats that can provide insight as to how a Major League Soccer (MLS) team or player is performing, and therefore help to inform your betting. These include:
-
Points: Teams in MLS are ranked in both their conference and the overall standings by how many points they have won that season. A team gets three points for a winning a match, one point if it ends as a draw/tie, and zero points if they lose a game. Comparing two teams’ points can give you a quick indication as to which one has performed better over the course of that season.
-
Wins and defeats: In order to figure out how well an MLS team has performed that season, a good place to start is by checking how many matches they’ve won and lost. A team’s position in the MLS standings is mainly dictated by how many matches they have won, especially as a win rewards the same number of points as three ties/draws. Naturally, a team that loses the majority of its matches will likely find themselves near the bottom of their conference and/or the overall standings.
-
Games played: The MLS standings include how many games each of the 28 teams have played so far that season. Every team plays 34 matches during the MLS regular season, which is important to bear in mind for any futures bets. For instance, if Toronto FC are five points clear in the overall standings, it’s more likely that they will win the Supporters’ Shield from that point with five games remaining, instead of 10 or 15.
-
Goals for: In the MLS standings, the goals for/scored column lists how many goals a team has scored that season. The number of goals a team has scored can reflect how good their offense is and by extension, their style of play. For example, if a team is near the top of their conference but has scored considerably fewer goals than the teams around them in the standings, this may suggest that they use a counter-attacking approach and their matches are thus low-scoring, or alternatively that their forwards are presently in bad form.
-
Goals against: The goals against/conceded column in the MLS standings lists how many goals a team has conceded that season, and can therefore be used to gauge how well their defense has been performing. A team that concedes lots of goals will inevitably struggle to win matches and likely find themselves near the bottom of the standings. Along with goals for, you can use a team’s goals against stat to inform bets for markets such as total or over/under goals, point spread (or handicap), and both teams to score.
-
Goal difference: A team’s goal difference equates to how many goals they have scored minus how many they have conceded. If a team’s goal difference is listed with a + symbol, they have scored more goals then they have conceded by that number. If it’s listed with a - symbol, then they have conceded more than they have scored by that number. A team near the top of the standings but with a negative goal difference presumably wins matches by a small margin and loses games by a large margin.
-
Form: A team’s form lists their recent results, typically over their last five matches, and is important to review among a team’s other stats as it may highlight important considerations. For instance, a team may seem a safe bet to win a game because they are top of the overall MLS standings, but less so if you learn that they have failed to win any of their last five matches. Form is often divided into home form and away form, to reflect how a team has performed in home games and on the road respectively.
