MTK Budapest v Puskas Academy — prediction, stats and goal analysis

NB I · Friday, 7 August 2026. Final score 2–3 (half-time 0–2). 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 score61%39%Yes

The result model puts MTK Budapest at 39%, the draw at 25% and Puskas Academy at 36%, from expected goals of 1.54 and 1.47.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. NB I has produced over 2.5 goals in 60% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. MTK Budapest have 2 in 2 this season (1 of 1 at home), Puskas Academy 0 in 2 (0 of 1 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 63% and 55%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 2 and 2 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 65% and 56%.

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 60%.

Head to head. These sides have met 9 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 56%. 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 60%.

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 1.54 for MTK Budapest and 1.47 for Puskas Academy. 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
MTK Budapest2100%50%50%
Puskas Academy20%0%0%

Head to head

15 May 26Puskas Academy 2–2 MTK BudapestO2.5
14 Feb 26MTK Budapest 2–2 Puskas AcademyO2.5
25 Oct 25Puskas Academy 1–1 MTK BudapestU2.5
6 Apr 25Puskas Academy 1–1 MTK BudapestU2.5
30 Nov 24MTK Budapest 0–1 Puskas AcademyU2.5
18 Aug 24Puskas Academy 1–0 MTK BudapestU2.5

More: MTK Budapest season stats · Puskas Academy season stats · NB I table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.