Plzen v Slovan Liberec — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Czech Liga · Saturday, 25 July 2026. Final score 1–3 (half-time 0–1). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 32% 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 goals32%68%Under
Over 3.5 goals16%84%no pick
Both teams to score28%72%No

The result model puts Plzen at 50%, the draw at 24% and Slovan Liberec at 26%, from expected goals of 1.72 and 1.17.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Czech Liga has produced over 2.5 goals in 0% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Plzen have 0 in 0 this season, Slovan Liberec 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 0% and 0%.

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 26% and 20%.

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 19%.

Head to head. These sides have met 7 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 57%. 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 20%.

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 55%, from expected goals of 1.72 for Plzen and 1.17 for Slovan Liberec. Folding in 30% of that view gives 31%.

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 28%.

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 32%.

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
Plzen0———
Slovan Liberec0———

Head to head

9 May 26Plzen 2–0 Slovan LiberecU2.5
8 Feb 26Plzen 3–1 Slovan LiberecO2.5
31 Aug 25Slovan Liberec 1–1 PlzenU2.5
8 Feb 25Plzen 3–2 Slovan LiberecO2.5
1 Sept 24Slovan Liberec 1–1 PlzenU2.5
30 Mar 24Plzen 1–3 Slovan LiberecO2.5

Things worth knowing

More: Plzen season stats · Slovan Liberec season stats · Czech Liga table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.