Football ratings

Wednesday 16 September 2026 · times UK

The model's strongest calls

86%Barcelona — home winBarcelona v Racing Santander · 20:30 · market 91% · this strong, 87% land (475 cases)
£10 on all 1 as one multiple returns about £11 if every one lands. The model puts that at 86%, the market at 91%, and the price needs 94% just to break even.Bookmaker margin compounds with every leg, which is why the break-even sits above the market's own view. A same-match bet builder pays less than this — the bookmaker prices in that the legs move together. Our chance is a straight multiplication and is if anything a little low: where two legs of one match both cleared, they landed together 55.5% of the time against a multiplied 53.4%.

Goals — supporting, not headline

These are calibrated — a 65% call lands about 65% of the time. But the model separates high- from low-scoring matches far less sharply than it separates winners, so there is less information behind a goals number than a result one.

78%Barcelona v Racing Santander — over 2.5 goals20:30 · market 84% · this strong, 75% land (134 cases)
58%Deportivo La Coruna v Sevilla — under 2.5 goals18:00 · market 58% · this strong, 58% land (10,295 cases)

Every fixture

La Liga
Atletico Madrid v Osasuna18:00
HomeDrawAway
Model622315
Market691912
Over 2.5Under 2.5
Model5347
Market5545
Under 4.5 goals: 84%  ·  happens 86% of the time anyway
Model is 7 points below the market on home win (pinnacle). Worth a look at why.
Deportivo La Coruna v Sevilla18:00
HomeDrawAway
Model373132
Market373231
Over 2.5Under 2.5
Model4258
Market4258
Under 4.5 goals: 91%  ·  happens 86% of the time anyway
Barcelona v Racing Santander20:30
HomeDrawAway
Model86104
Market9154
Over 2.5Under 2.5
Model7822
Market8416
Under 4.5 goals: 55%  ·  happens 86% of the time anyway
Levante v Athletic Club20:30
HomeDrawAway
Model362637
Market272746
Over 2.5Under 2.5
Model5743
Market5347
Under 4.5 goals: 81%  ·  happens 86% of the time anyway
Model is 9 points below the market on away win (pinnacle). Worth a look at why.

How the calls did

✓Ajax 5–1 Willem IIAjax home win 82%
✓Ajax 5–1 Willem II over 2.5 goals 73%
✓Elche 2–3 Real MadridReal Madrid away win 68%
✕Falkirk 2–1 Heart Of MidlothianHeart Of Midlothian away win 65%
✓Falkirk 2–1 Heart Of Midlothian over 2.5 goals 62%
✓Elche 2–3 Real Madrid over 2.5 goals 62%

5 of 6 settled since yesterday · 199 of 297 since the model went live.

Every match, for the record

The model rates the whole card, not just the calls, and learns from all of it. Judged as probabilities rather than picks — a 38% favourite losing is the model working, not failing.

·Resulttop pick right 3/9, we claimed 58% · 279/570 all-time
what actually happenedwe gave it 35% on average
·Over/under 2.5top pick right 8/9, we claimed 58% · 333/570 all-time
what actually happenedwe gave it 56% on average

A well-calibrated model's average claim matches how often it happens. That is the number Rule 9 gates on, and it is tracked for results and goals alike whether or not a fixture ever produced a call.

What these numbers are. The model's own estimate of how likely each result is, from form, Elo, rest, shots and xG as they stood at 06:00 UK on match day. One bivariate Poisson produces all of them, so the result and the goals figures share one underlying view of the match. Each published figure is then calibrated against what actually happened in past matches, one market at a time — so they agree closely but are not forced to agree exactly. Market figures are the bookmaker's prices with their margin removed, so the two are comparable.

What they are not. Across 57,633 out-of-sample fixtures the market separated matches better than the model in every league, every season, every outcome and every confidence band — 24 slices, no exceptions, re-tested in August 2026 on the current model. This is a second opinion, not an edge. Where it earns its keep is honesty about its own confidence: when it says 74%, that happens about 74% of the time.

Why a call appears. Thresholds — home 70% · away 60% · over 60% · under 55% — sit where the model has historically been as good as its claim. Raising them would surface fewer calls and be less accurate about them, because its confidence above those levels is inflated everywhere except home wins. Draws are never flagged: the highest one ever rated was 62%.

4 rated · 0 not rated · model goals_v7_cal · built 2026-09-16 07:05 UK