Sarpsborg 08 FF v Molde — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Eliteserien · Monday, 25 May 2026. Final score 2–1 (half-time 1–1). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 56% 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 goals56%44%Over
Over 3.5 goals37%63%no pick
Both teams to score54%46%Yes

The result model puts Sarpsborg 08 FF at 42%, the draw at 27% and Molde at 31%, from expected goals of 1.38 and 1.13.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Eliteserien 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. Sarpsborg 08 FF have 4 in 9 this season (1 of 4 at home), Molde 3 in 9 (1 of 4 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 56% and 53%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 9 and 9 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 62% and 59%.

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 61%.

Head to head. These sides have met 6 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 67%. 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 46%, from expected goals of 1.38 for Sarpsborg 08 FF and 1.13 for Molde. Folding in 30% of that view gives 56%.

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
Sarpsborg 08 FF944%22%56%
Molde933%33%44%

Head to head

30 Nov 25Sarpsborg 08 FF 1–0 MoldeU2.5
30 Mar 25Molde 0–2 Sarpsborg 08 FFU2.5
10 Nov 24Sarpsborg 08 FF 2–2 MoldeO2.5
20 May 24Molde 2–4 Sarpsborg 08 FFO2.5
26 Nov 23Sarpsborg 08 FF 1–3 MoldeO2.5
22 Jul 23Molde 5–1 Sarpsborg 08 FFO2.5

More: Sarpsborg 08 FF season stats · Molde season stats · Eliteserien table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.