Chico v Deportes Tolima — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Primera A · Monday, 23 March 2026. Final score 1–1 (half-time 1–0). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 42% 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 goals42%58%Under
Over 3.5 goals20%80%no pick
Both teams to score46%54%No

The result model puts Chico at 28%, the draw at 31% and Deportes Tolima at 41%, from expected goals of 0.9 and 1.15.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Primera A 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. Chico have 6 in 11 this season (2 of 5 at home), Deportes Tolima 3 in 11 (2 of 6 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 47% and 39%.

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 40% and 41%.

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 41%.

Head to head. These sides have met 6 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 50%. 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 42%.

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 34%, from expected goals of 0.9 for Chico and 1.15 for Deportes Tolima. Folding in 30% of that view gives 39%.

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 42%.

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
Chico1155%18%27%
Deportes Tolima1127%18%36%

Head to head

15 Sept 25Deportes Tolima 4–0 ChicoO2.5
2 Apr 25Chico 1–4 Deportes TolimaO2.5
16 Sept 24Deportes Tolima 2–1 ChicoO2.5
1 Mar 24Chico 1–1 Deportes TolimaU2.5
30 Sept 23Deportes Tolima 2–0 ChicoU2.5
24 Apr 23Chico 2–0 Deportes TolimaU2.5

More: Chico season stats · Deportes Tolima season stats · Primera A table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.