Sandnes ULF v Stabaek — prediction, stats and goal analysis

1. Division · Sunday, 10 May 2026. Final score 0–1 (half-time 0–1). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 65% 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 goals65%35%Over
Over 3.5 goals40%60%no pick
Both teams to score63%37%Yes

The result model puts Sandnes ULF at 27%, the draw at 23% and Stabaek at 50%, from expected goals of 1.37 and 1.94.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. 1. Division has produced over 2.5 goals in 65% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Sandnes ULF have 2 in 5 this season (1 of 2 at home), Stabaek 5 in 5 (3 of 3 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 60% and 71%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 5 and 5 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 60% and 65%.

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 63%.

Head to head. These sides have met 2 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 100%. 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 65%.

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 64%, from expected goals of 1.37 for Sandnes ULF and 1.94 for Stabaek. Folding in 30% of that view gives 65%.

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
Sandnes ULF540%20%60%
Stabaek5100%80%60%

Head to head

19 Aug 24Sandnes ULF 1–3 StabaekO2.5
31 Jul 24Stabaek 3–0 Sandnes ULFO2.5
22 Oct 22Sandnes ULF 2–2 StabaekO2.5
25 Apr 22Stabaek 0–1 Sandnes ULFU2.5

More: Sandnes ULF season stats · Stabaek season stats · 1. Division table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.