Valerenga v Ham-Kam — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Eliteserien · Friday, 31 July 2026. Final score 0–3 (half-time 0–1). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 59% 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 goals59%41%Over
Over 3.5 goals38%62%no pick
Both teams to score56%44%Yes

The result model puts Valerenga at 56%, the draw at 23% and Ham-Kam at 21%, from expected goals of 1.9 and 1.09.

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. Valerenga have 7 in 14 this season (4 of 7 at home), Ham-Kam 10 in 14 (5 of 7 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 57% and 65%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 14 and 14 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 59% and 63%.

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 4 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 25%. 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 59%.

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 58%, from expected goals of 1.9 for Valerenga and 1.09 for Ham-Kam. Folding in 30% of that view gives 59%.

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
Valerenga1450%50%50%
Ham-Kam1471%43%64%

Head to head

8 May 26Ham-Kam 1–0 ValerengaU2.5
19 Oct 25Ham-Kam 2–1 ValerengaO2.5
16 May 25Valerenga 1–1 Ham-KamU2.5
26 Nov 23Ham-Kam 0–2 ValerengaU2.5
16 May 23Valerenga 3–0 Ham-KamO2.5
14 Aug 22Ham-Kam 1–1 ValerengaU2.5

More: Valerenga season stats · Ham-Kam season stats · Eliteserien table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.