Shanghai Shenhua v Henan Jianye — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Super League · Saturday, 15 August 2026. Final score 4–1 (half-time 1–1). 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 goals41%59%no pick
Both teams to score63%37%Yes

The result model puts Shanghai Shenhua at 51%, the draw at 23% and Henan Jianye at 26%, from expected goals of 1.93 and 1.34.

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 13 in 21 this season (7 of 10 at home), Henan Jianye 12 in 21 (7 of 10 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 61% and 59%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 21 and 21 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 63% and 61%.

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 62%.

Head to head. These sides have met 6 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 100%. 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 64%.

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 63%, from expected goals of 1.93 for Shanghai Shenhua and 1.34 for Henan Jianye. 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 Shenhua2162%52%67%
Henan Jianye2157%10%57%

Head to head

26 Apr 26Henan Jianye 0–3 Shanghai ShenhuaO2.5
27 Jul 25Shanghai Shenhua 3–2 Henan JianyeO2.5
29 Mar 25Henan Jianye 1–3 Shanghai ShenhuaO2.5
18 Oct 24Shanghai Shenhua 2–1 Henan JianyeO2.5
21 May 24Henan Jianye 1–2 Shanghai ShenhuaO2.5
16 Sept 23Henan Jianye 3–0 Shanghai ShenhuaO2.5

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