Emmen v Jong AZ — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Eerste Divisie · Friday, 21 August 2026. Final score 3–1 (half-time 0–0). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 69% 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 goals69%31%Over
Over 3.5 goals50%50%Over
Both teams to score67%33%Yes

The result model puts Emmen at 41%, the draw at 21% and Jong AZ at 38%, from expected goals of 2.05 and 1.98.

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. Emmen have 1 in 2 this season (0 of 1 at home), Jong AZ 1 in 2 (1 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 62% and 62%.

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 63% 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 64%.

Head to head. These sides have met 6 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 83%. 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 65%.

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 77%, from expected goals of 2.05 for Emmen and 1.98 for Jong AZ. Folding in 30% of that view gives 69%.

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
Emmen250%50%50%
Jong AZ250%50%50%

Head to head

9 Mar 26Jong AZ 2–3 EmmenO2.5
28 Nov 25Emmen 4–2 Jong AZO2.5
18 Apr 25Emmen 1–4 Jong AZO2.5
13 Dec 24Jong AZ 1–1 EmmenU2.5
8 Apr 24Jong AZ 3–2 EmmenO2.5
27 Oct 23Emmen 2–1 Jong AZO2.5

More: Emmen 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.