Betting on footie using trends is little better than flipping a coin to decide punts, some say. But Nick Pulford shows how some fancy statistical footwork and using your noggin can help you beat the odds.

Nothing polarises opinion about football betting more than trends. Some people swear by them, others swear at them. It pays to be pragmatic, though, because sometimes they genuinely work - and sometimes they don't.

The real trick with trends is knowing when and how to apply them. The argument against using trends is that such patterns are random and, as such, there's no guarantee they will be repeated.