Santos W v Flamengo W — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Brasileirao (W) · Sunday, 16 August 2026. Final score 2–3 (half-time 1–1). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 52% 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 goals52%48%Over
Over 3.5 goals29%71%no pick
Both teams to score54%46%Yes

The result model puts Santos W at 34%, the draw at 28% and Flamengo W at 38%, from expected goals of 1.2 and 1.26.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Brasileirao (W) has produced over 2.5 goals in 56% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Santos W have 7 in 15 this season (4 of 7 at home), Flamengo W 6 in 15 (2 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 52% and 50%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 15 and 15 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 52% and 55%.

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 54%.

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 45%, from expected goals of 1.2 for Santos W and 1.26 for Flamengo W. Folding in 30% of that view gives 51%.

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 52%.

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
Santos W1547%20%47%
Flamengo W1540%33%73%

Head to head

29 Apr 24Flamengo W 7–0 Santos WO2.5
25 Jun 23Santos W 4–1 Flamengo WO2.5
18 Jun 23Flamengo W 1–3 Santos WO2.5
24 Feb 23Santos W 3–0 Flamengo WO2.5
7 Aug 22Santos W 1–1 Flamengo WU2.5

More: Santos W season stats · Flamengo W season stats · Brasileirao (W) table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.