De Graafschap v Jong AZ — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Eerste Divisie · Monday, 17 August 2026. Final score 2–5 (half-time 1–1). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 70% 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 goals70%30%Over
Over 3.5 goals51%49%Over
Both teams to score67%33%Yes

The result model puts De Graafschap at 49%, the draw at 21% and Jong AZ at 31%, from expected goals of 2.3 and 1.81.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Eerste Divisie has produced over 2.5 goals in 63% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. De Graafschap have 0 in 1 this season, Jong AZ 0 in 1. 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 61%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 1 and 1 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 66%.

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 65%.

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 67%.

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 78%, from expected goals of 2.3 for De Graafschap and 1.81 for Jong AZ. Folding in 30% of that view gives 70%.

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
De Graafschap10%0%100%
Jong AZ10%0%0%

Head to head

6 Apr 26De Graafschap 5–0 Jong AZO2.5
22 Sept 25Jong AZ 1–3 De GraafschapO2.5
21 Feb 25De Graafschap 5–1 Jong AZO2.5
23 Sept 24Jong AZ 2–2 De GraafschapO2.5
29 Mar 24De Graafschap 2–1 Jong AZO2.5
23 Oct 23Jong AZ 3–0 De GraafschapO2.5

More: De Graafschap season stats · Jong AZ season stats · Eerste Divisie table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.