The English Premier League and PSL seasons are well underway and with 48 games played locally (at the time of writing) and 56 in the UK there are some pretty interesting comparisons to be made.

Let’s start with what the two leagues have in common:

First up there is the fact that a win is worth 3 points, a draw 1 point and a loss zero. Secondly the betting on your average match is very similar with the draw being priced up at around the 22/10 (2.2/1) mark and the home and away wins varying according to how the strengths of the opposing teams are perceived.

That though is where the similarities end as there are massive differences in key areas that punters who do their homework can take advantage of.

The draw for example has occurred just 4 times in 56 EPL games but there have been 21 stalemates in just 48 PSL kickoffs.

Had you been placing R100 on the draw in each and every match at an average price of 22/10 you would be R4320 down in the EPL but R1920 up in the PSL. That PSL profit represents a return on investment of 40% suggesting that perhaps the bookmakers in this country are not giving the draw quite enough credit and there may be money to be made in following a long term strategy of backing the stalemate (clearly your strategy would be different in the UK).

One of the reasons for this high percentage of draws is the lack of goals in the local league. In the 48 matches there have been 92 goals an average of 1.9 goals per game (this would have been much lower before last weeks freak goal avalanche with 27 goals in 8 games) whereas in the EPL there have been 159 goals in 56 matches an average of 2.8 goals per game.

Had you been backing under 2.5 goals in the PSL at an average price of 8/10 you would be R2040 up a return on your investment of 42.5% season to date as 38 of the 48 fixtures have had 2 goals or less.

Before you rush out and start backing the draw and unders, bear in mind that the sample is still small and that a few more 4-2 results as we saw last week could severely dent your bottom line. I think we may be onto something though.

This article first appeared in the Citizen CitiGaming section on Thursday 24 September 2009

Brent Graham is a blogger on www.goodforthegame.co.za and presents a sports betting radio show every Saturday morning at 07h30 on 1485AM Radio Today or Channel 169 of the DSTV Audio Bouquet.

You can follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/brentgraham or get on his mailing list by dropping him a line at brent@goodforthegame.co.za

Goodforthegame will be posting betting previews on the Currie Cup, ICC Cricket, Premier League and PSL.