Šiauliai v Kauno Žalgiris — prediction, stats and goal analysis

A Lyga · Sunday, 15 March 2026. Final score 0–5 (half-time 0–2). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 57% 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.

Open this match in the app →

Our ratings for this match

MarketYesNoOur call
Over 2.5 goals57%43%Over
Over 3.5 goals33%67%no pick
Both teams to score54%46%Yes

The result model puts Šiauliai at 22%, the draw at 23% and Kauno Žalgiris at 54%, from expected goals of 1.09 and 1.84.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. A Lyga has produced over 2.5 goals in 51% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Šiauliai have 1 in 4 this season (0 of 1 at home), Kauno Žalgiris 3 in 4 (2 of 2 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 48% and 55%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 4 and 4 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 59% and 55%.

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 56%.

Head to head. These sides have met 11 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 73%. 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 57%.

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 56%, from expected goals of 1.09 for Šiauliai and 1.84 for Kauno Žalgiris. Folding in 30% of that view gives 57%.

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
Šiauliai425%25%50%
Kauno Žalgiris475%25%50%

Head to head

17 Oct 25Kauno Žalgiris 3–1 ŠiauliaiO2.5
20 Aug 25Šiauliai 2–2 Kauno ŽalgirisO2.5
23 May 25Kauno Žalgiris 3–0 ŠiauliaiO2.5
29 Mar 25Šiauliai 2–3 Kauno ŽalgirisO2.5
15 Sept 24Kauno Žalgiris 2–1 ŠiauliaiO2.5
1 Jul 24Šiauliai 1–0 Kauno ŽalgirisU2.5

More: Šiauliai season stats · Kauno Žalgiris season stats · A Lyga table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.