Ponte Preta v Ceara — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Serie B · Thursday, 2 April 2026. Final score 1–1 (half-time 0–0). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 41% 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 goals41%59%Under
Over 3.5 goals18%82%no pick
Both teams to score50%50%No

The result model puts Ponte Preta at 31%, the draw at 30% and Ceara at 38%, from expected goals of 1 and 1.13.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Serie B has produced over 2.5 goals in 40% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Ponte Preta have 1 in 1 this season, Ceara 0 in 1. 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 39%.

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 40%.

Head to head. These sides have met 4 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 25%. 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 40%.

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 36%, from expected goals of 1 for Ponte Preta and 1.13 for Ceara. 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 41%.

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
Ponte Preta1100%0%100%
Ceara10%0%100%

Head to head

12 Oct 24Ceara 1–0 Ponte PretaU2.5
26 Jun 24Ponte Preta 3–1 CearaO2.5
20 Aug 23Ceara 1–1 Ponte PretaU2.5
7 May 23Ponte Preta 0–0 CearaU2.5

More: Ponte Preta season stats · Ceara season stats · Serie B table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.