Shanghai Shenhua v Wuhan Three Towns — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Super League · Wednesday, 20 May 2026. Final score 2–2 (half-time 2–1). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 64% 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 goals64%36%Over
Over 3.5 goals44%56%no pick
Both teams to score61%39%Yes

The result model puts Shanghai Shenhua at 73%, the draw at 16% and Wuhan Three Towns at 11%, from expected goals of 2.66 and 0.97.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Super League has produced over 2.5 goals in 61% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Shanghai Shenhua have 7 in 12 this season (4 of 6 at home), Wuhan Three Towns 7 in 12 (4 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 60% and 60%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 12 and 12 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 64% and 62%.

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 5 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 40%. 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 61%.

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 70%, from expected goals of 2.66 for Shanghai Shenhua and 0.97 for Wuhan Three Towns. Folding in 30% of that view gives 64%.

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
Shanghai Shenhua1258%50%67%
Wuhan Three Towns1258%50%67%

Head to head

31 Aug 25Wuhan Three Towns 1–0 Shanghai ShenhuaU2.5
19 Apr 25Shanghai Shenhua 2–0 Wuhan Three TownsU2.5
29 Jul 24Wuhan Three Towns 0–2 Shanghai ShenhuaU2.5
9 Apr 24Shanghai Shenhua 4–1 Wuhan Three TownsO2.5
13 Aug 23Wuhan Three Towns 1–2 Shanghai ShenhuaO2.5
13 May 23Shanghai Shenhua 1–1 Wuhan Three TownsU2.5

More: Shanghai Shenhua season stats · Wuhan Three Towns season stats · Super League table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.