Daejeon Citizen v Jeonbuk Motors — prediction, stats and goal analysis

K League 1 · Saturday, 21 March 2026. Final score 0–1 (half-time 0–1). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 45% 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 goals45%55%Under
Over 3.5 goals24%76%no pick
Both teams to score52%48%Yes

The result model puts Daejeon Citizen at 24%, the draw at 32% and Jeonbuk Motors at 44%, from expected goals of 0.75 and 1.13.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. K League 1 has produced over 2.5 goals in 47% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Daejeon Citizen have 1 in 4 this season (0 of 2 at home), Jeonbuk Motors 2 in 4 (0 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 44% and 48%.

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 51% and 49%.

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 49%.

Head to head. These sides have met 11 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 36%. 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 49%.

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 29%, from expected goals of 0.75 for Daejeon Citizen and 1.13 for Jeonbuk Motors. Folding in 30% of that view gives 43%.

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 45%.

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
Daejeon Citizen425%25%100%
Jeonbuk Motors450%25%75%

Head to head

8 Nov 25Jeonbuk Motors 3–1 Daejeon CitizenO2.5
13 Sept 25Jeonbuk Motors 1–0 Daejeon CitizenU2.5
6 May 25Jeonbuk Motors 1–1 Daejeon CitizenU2.5
5 Apr 25Daejeon Citizen 0–2 Jeonbuk MotorsU2.5
19 Oct 24Jeonbuk Motors 0–2 Daejeon CitizenU2.5
22 Sept 24Daejeon Citizen 0–0 Jeonbuk MotorsU2.5

More: Daejeon Citizen season stats · Jeonbuk Motors season stats · K League 1 table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.