With Form Lab PRO you can access the form for this League and over 20 other World Leagues annually.

Click Here to subscribe to Form Lab PRO and have a free 14 day trial.

Form Factors

League 1 has a relatively average home bias, with home sides winning 44% and losing 38% of their games over the last 10 seasons (5520 matches). The figures have remained constant over the last two seasons with the home team accruing 1.59 PPG compared with an average of 1.60 PPG since 1999/2000.

The performance of the Home team over their last five matches is the key indicator for their next game in the third tier of English football. Similarly, for the away team the form in their last five away games provides the strongest correlations for the next match outcome.

When a good home team has strong form (10-15 points in their last five home games) visits of away sides with form of 0-4 points in their last five away games then the home team win 54% of matches.

The only times the away team holds the advantage in League 1 is when they have picked up 8-15 points in their last five away games and travel to a side who have recorded 0-6 points in their last five home games. In such matches over the last 10 seasons, the away side has won 41% of the time and only lost in 26%.

Key points and what to look for:

• Home teams’ last five game home form and away teams’ five game away form.
• Home teams who have taken 10-15 points from their last five matches dominate away teams with a low and average away five game form (0-4 points).
• Away teams who have gained 8-15 points in their last five away games are dominant over home teams who have taken 0-6 points from their last five matches.

Goals

League 1 matches average 2.58 goals per game (1.45 for the home side and 1.13 for the away team) with a little under half the games (48%) featuring three goals or more since 1999/2000.

The correlation between goals for over the last 10 games and matches with +2.5 goals is extremely weak, however, the most dominant factor is the away team’s recent overall record (last 10 games home and away).

Matches with +2.5 goals are most common when the away team have had +2.5 goals in seven or more of their last 10 matches. Surprisingly, the highest percentage of matches with three goals or more occurs when the home side has seen 6-7 of their last 10 home games feature +2.5 goals and the away team has a good record of over goal games (7-10 goals in the last 10) and sees 55% over goals.

However, due to the poor correlations the majority of form related pairing produce an outcome of around 47-49% which is bang on the leagues average.

Key points to look for:

• Form plays very little part in indicating the number of goals that will be scored in the proceeding match.

Clean Sheets

An analysis of the home and away teams’ record for clean sheets and ability to score provides some very useful indicators towards the chances of clean sheets, over-goals, and match result. With only a marginal difference in League 1’s scoring rates, it is not a surprise to see the average home clean sheet figure is 32%, with the figure for away clean sheets at 23%.

There is a very strong correlation between a home teams clean sheet record and their opponent’s record of failing to score. This is most relevant when a team with a strong clean sheet record (at least five clean sheets in their last 10 home games) plays at home and moreover, is strong regardless of their opposition – with 37% of teams in the high home clean sheet band blanking their opponents.

With the away team clean sheet correlations almost as strong, home sides who have struggled to score (failing to score in at least four in their last 10 away games) continue to be blanked irrespective of the strength of their opponents’ record, 27% away clean sheets.

Key points and what to look for:

• For home clean sheets look for home teams with five or more clean sheets in their last home 10 matches – CS in 37% of home matches.
• For away clean sheets the home side’s recent record of failing to score is the most important factor. Failing to score in four or more of their last 10 home matches leads to CS in 27% of away matches.

Half-time draws and first half clean sheets

Since 1999/2000, League 1 has seen a relatively low number of half-time stalemates, with 42% of matches drawn at the interval and only 30% of games ending 0-0 after 45 minutes. The statistics show us that there is a poor relationship between the ability of a side to keep a first-half clean sheet and draw the opening half.

However, as a more general trend it can be said with some confidence that the better the home team’s first half clean sheet record and the worse the away team’s first half scoring record the better the home teams does, and vice-versa. The best indicator for both the home and away sides is their recent overall first-half clean sheet record in the last 10 matches (home and away).

Key points and what to look for:

• There is no link between the number of half time draws/first half clean sheets in their last 10 games and the likelihood of a half-time draw in their next such game.

HT/FT

On average home teams in League 1 will W/W 26% of their games while they suffer L/L reverses in 16% of matches.

With strong correlations there are many factors which can be used when predicting home W/W’s, however, the dominant aspect is when the away side’s recent overall (last 10 games home and away) L/L form is strong, with 31% of the next matches being W/W if a side has recorded 4-10 L/L’s in their last 10 matches. The next most pertinent correlation being the home sides’ last 10 overall form, with 30% of the next matches being W/W if a side has recorded 4-10 W/W’s in their last 10 home matches.

When looking for away W/W’s, correlations are again strong. The most important of these are the home team’s L/L record in their last 10 home matches, which produces 22% away W/W’s with four or more L/L’s in their last 10 home matches and the away sides’ W/W record in their last 10 away games – 21% away W/W’s with four or more W/W’s in their last 10 away matches.

Key points to look for:

• For home W/Ws look for matches where the away team has L/L in four or more of their last 10 matches (home W/W in 31% of matches) or the home team has had four or more W/W results in their last 10 games overall (home W/W in 30% of games). When both criteria have been met the home team has recorded W/W in 34% of matches.
• For away W/Ws look for matches where the home team has L/L in four or more of their last 10 home matches (away W/W in 22% of matches) or the away team has had four or more W/W results in their last 10 away games (away W/W in 21% of games).

With Form Lab PRO you can access the form for this League and over 20 other World Leagues annually.

Click Here to subscribe to Form Lab PRO and have a free 14 day trial.