Novorizontino v Palmeiras — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Paulista · Sunday, 8 March 2026. Final score 1–2 (half-time 1–1). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 47% for over 2.5 goals. This match is older than our frozen ratings ledger, which keeps 30 days, so that figure is a reconstruction from pre-match data rather than a number we published at the time — a distinction worth making, because only the frozen ones prove what we actually said beforehand.

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Our ratings for this match

MarketYesNoOur call
Over 2.5 goals47%53%Under
Over 3.5 goals21%79%no pick
Both teams to score50%50%Yes

The result model puts Novorizontino at 47%, the draw at 28% and Palmeiras at 25%, from expected goals of 1.38 and 0.93.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Paulista has produced over 2.5 goals in 48% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Novorizontino have 6 in 11 this season (3 of 6 at home), Palmeiras 4 in 11 (1 of 4 away). Those records are pulled toward the league rate with the weight of about 24 matches — enough that two or three unusual games cannot swing a rating — giving 50% and 44%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 11 and 11 games played this season, last season's rates are still blended in and fade out entirely by game 40 — the point at which our testing showed they stop adding accuracy. A single season is part luck, so each club's record is first pulled toward the league average by 34 games' weight. That moves the two figures to 50% and 46%.

The mix. Weighted 40% home side, 40% away side and 20% league — the split that beat every alternative across 30,582 matches of testing — that gives 48%.

Head to head. These sides have met 5 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 40%. That nudges the number 5% of the way toward the head-to-head pattern — deliberately small, because fixtures change more than reputations do — landing on 47%.

Goal expectation. Separately a Poisson model built from attack and defence strength — using real expected-goals data where the league has it — puts this match at 41%, from expected goals of 1.38 for Novorizontino and 0.93 for Palmeiras. Folding in 30% of that view gives 45%.

Calibration. Tested against 97,729 past matches, our ratings below 55% have run consistently too pessimistic — a figure in the high 30s, for instance, has come in about four points higher. So ratings in that range are lifted part-way back, giving 47%.

This breakdown is generated from the same inputs the rating uses, so it cannot describe a calculation we did not perform. The full model is set out in the methodology.

Season form

TeamGamesO2.5O3.5BTTS
Novorizontino1155%18%45%
Palmeiras1136%27%27%

Head to head

4 Mar 26Palmeiras 1–0 NovorizontinoU2.5
20 Jan 26Novorizontino 4–0 PalmeirasO2.5
25 Jan 25Palmeiras 1–2 NovorizontinoO2.5
29 Mar 24Palmeiras 1–0 NovorizontinoU2.5
21 Jan 24Novorizontino 1–1 PalmeirasU2.5
23 Jan 22Novorizontino 0–2 PalmeirasU2.5

More: Novorizontino season stats · Palmeiras season stats · Paulista table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.