Emelec v Independiente del Valle — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Liga Pro · Friday, 20 March 2026. Final score 2–0 (half-time 2–0). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 46% 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 goals46%54%no pick
Over 3.5 goals23%77%no pick
Both teams to score50%50%Yes

The result model puts Emelec at 18%, the draw at 26% and Independiente del Valle at 56%, from expected goals of 0.79 and 1.6.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Liga Pro has produced over 2.5 goals in 44% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Emelec have 1 in 3 this season (1 of 2 at home), Independiente del Valle 2 in 4 (0 of 1 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 43% and 45%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 3 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 39% and 48%.

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 44%.

Head to head. These sides have met 6 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 67%. 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 45%.

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 43%, from expected goals of 0.79 for Emelec and 1.6 for Independiente del Valle. Folding in 30% of that view gives 44%.

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 46%.

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
Emelec333%0%67%
Independiente del Valle450%50%50%

Head to head

24 Aug 25Emelec 0–1 Independiente del ValleU2.5
5 May 25Independiente del Valle 1–2 EmelecO2.5
15 Sept 24Independiente del Valle 2–1 EmelecO2.5
1 Apr 24Emelec 0–0 Independiente del ValleU2.5
1 Oct 23Independiente del Valle 2–1 EmelecO2.5
29 Apr 23Emelec 2–3 Independiente del ValleO2.5

More: Emelec season stats · Independiente del Valle season stats · Liga Pro table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.