First goalscorer bets are popular with football punters. The bet is straightforward. Just select the player you think will bang in the first goal. If he scores first you win.

Strikers usually have the lowest odds and defenders the highest, attacking midfielders can offer the best value. Remember, if you back a player and he scores an own goal it usually won’t count (check bookmaker T&Cs). If the game ends goalless you will automatically lose the bet.

Many bookmakers offer MoneyBack specials on first goalscorer wagers so it’s worth checking out current offers before making a bet. In Cup games, bets are struck on the 90-minute rule, meaning your player must score within the normal game time (90 minutes plus injury time), extra time does not count.

The Anytime Scorer bet works in a similar way to the First Scorer market. The main difference being that your bet is still live even if your selected player doesn’t score the first goal.

Your player can score anytime in the 90 minutes (including injury time) and you’ll still win. Enhance your chances of winning by selecting players who regularly take part in set pieces and picking a team’s default penalty taker can pay dividends (especially if that player is not a striker). Free kick specialists should also be favoured.

You can also double anytime scorer bets and you could even Acca four or more selections for a big payout.

When you’re looking to bet in the first scorer or anytime scorer markets, you should consider the ‘Goals Per Match Stats’ of the leagues you’re betting on. If we look at the stats for the 2019/20 season, we can see some interesting patterns.

The differences between top leagues can be considerable. If we look at the Premier League goals per match stats (2.71 goals), we can see it’s well below the Bundesliga (3.21 goals). It stands to reason that you’ll have more success betting on goalscorers in the German league than the Premier League, statistically speaking.

The league with the lowest number of goals per game (2.48) in 2019/20 was the Spanish La Liga. The league with the most goals was the Italian Serie A (3.04).