Vancouver FC v HFX Wanderers FC — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Canadian Premier League · Sunday, 5 April 2026. Final score 0–1 (half-time 0–0). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 55% 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 goals55%45%Over
Over 3.5 goals35%65%no pick
Both teams to score56%44%Yes

The result model puts Vancouver FC at 27%, the draw at 24% and HFX Wanderers FC at 48%, from expected goals of 1.24 and 1.72.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Canadian Premier League has produced over 2.5 goals in 59% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Vancouver FC have 0 in 0 this season, HFX Wanderers FC 0 in 0. 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 59% and 59%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 0 and 0 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 58% and 57%.

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 58%.

Head to head. These sides have met 12 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 58%. 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 58%.

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 57%, from expected goals of 1.24 for Vancouver FC and 1.72 for HFX Wanderers FC. Folding in 30% of that view gives 58%.

Season opener. One of these sides has not played a league game yet. Openers run about 2.5 points under their league's norm, measured across 2,727 of them, so the rating is docked to 55%.

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
Vancouver FC0———
HFX Wanderers FC0———

Head to head

28 Sept 25Vancouver FC 3–1 HFX Wanderers FCO2.5
4 Aug 25HFX Wanderers FC 1–2 Vancouver FCO2.5
21 Jun 25HFX Wanderers FC 1–0 Vancouver FCU2.5
18 May 25Vancouver FC 0–2 HFX Wanderers FCU2.5
5 Oct 24HFX Wanderers FC 1–1 Vancouver FCU2.5
5 Aug 24HFX Wanderers FC 3–2 Vancouver FCO2.5

Things worth knowing

More: Vancouver FC season stats · HFX Wanderers FC season stats · Canadian Premier League table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.