Football head to head stats: how to read past meetings

Some fixtures have habits that form alone won’t tell you about. Football head to head stats show what happens when two teams meet, and the trick is knowing which of those habits mean something. This guide covers what they are, how they help and how to read them, with a real example from League Two.

What are football head to head stats?

Football head to head stats, often shortened to H2H, are the record of every meeting between two teams: the results, the goals, the cards and the corners. They look at the fixture itself, where form looks at each side’s recent matches against anybody.

Football Hub’s are called Head To Heads, and they cover every meeting we hold, in any competition. They pick out the lines that keep landing when these two play each other and rarely anywhere else.

What they cover

Head To Heads cover goals, cards, corners and results. That means over and under lines, both teams to score, card and corner counts, and the side that never seems to lose this one. Every line shows how many meetings it landed in, and the number from each.

Why the other matches matter

Two teams that score in all their matches will probably score against each other too, and that isn’t a habit of the fixture. So a line only shows when it lands far more often in their meetings than against anyone else. That way it’s the fixture talking, not the form.

How do head to head stats help?

Most pre-match numbers follow one team at a time. Head to head stats add something those numbers can’t show you, which is how these two sides get on together, and they’re useful in three ways.

• They spot what form misses. A fixture can run high on goals or cards whatever each side’s form looks like. You’d never see that from their recent matches.
• They’re quick to find. Every upcoming fixture’s lines are on one page, so you don’t have to look up each pair of teams in turn and count back through the years.
• They show their working. Each line sits beside what the same sides do against everyone else. You can see at once how unusual it really is.

How to read football head to head stats

Every line is laid out the same way, so once you’ve read one you’ve read them all. Here’s a real one from League Two: Oldham v Crawley Town, the first card in this picture.

Look at the gap

The last row is the one to look at. Over 2.5 goals landed in 9 of these sides’ 10 meetings, but in only 48% of their matches against anyone else. That gap is what makes this a habit of the fixture rather than the way they always play.

Look at the numbers

Four of the nine only just landed, with exactly 3 goals, and the one miss had 2. Other meetings had 5 or 6. Two lines with the same record can tell quite different stories, and the numbers show you which is which.

Open a line for more

Tap any card to see every meeting on a chart and in a list, along with each side’s last 20 games against other teams. Here, Oldham’s went over in 11 of 20 and Crawley’s in 8 of 20. You also get how often the line lands across the competition.

How to use head to head stats well

1. Check what’s changed. Players, managers and form all change, and a meeting from four years ago may have had a very different pair of teams in it. The chart shows you how far back they go.
2. Check how many meetings there are. Five out of six is a much smaller sample than nine out of ten. Some fixtures simply haven’t been played very often.
3. Read them with everything else. Football cheat sheets follow each side’s own recent matches, and The Analyst can weigh it all up. It’s worth knowing when they agree and when they don’t.

Where to find Football Hub’s head to heads

Each competition in the app has Head To Heads in its menu, and each match shows its own on its Match Stats tab, right up to kick off. They come with every paid plan, from £8 a month. Compare the plans.