Cruzeiro W v Palmeiras W — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Brasileirao (W) · Saturday, 22 August 2026. Final score 0–0 (half-time 0–0). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 61% 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 goals61%39%Over
Over 3.5 goals36%64%no pick
Both teams to score58%42%Yes

The result model puts Cruzeiro W at 39%, the draw at 25% and Palmeiras W at 36%, from expected goals of 1.58 and 1.51.

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. Cruzeiro W have 10 in 16 this season (7 of 8 at home), Palmeiras W 11 in 16 (4 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 59% and 61%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 16 and 16 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 58% and 64%.

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 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 61%.

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 60%, from expected goals of 1.58 for Cruzeiro W and 1.51 for Palmeiras W. Folding in 30% of that view gives 61%.

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
Cruzeiro W1663%44%69%
Palmeiras W1669%25%44%

Head to head

31 Aug 25Cruzeiro W 1–2 Palmeiras WO2.5
24 Aug 25Palmeiras W 1–3 Cruzeiro WO2.5
22 May 25Palmeiras W 0–1 Cruzeiro WU2.5
28 Aug 24Palmeiras W 2–2 Cruzeiro WO2.5
25 Aug 24Cruzeiro W 1–2 Palmeiras WO2.5
6 May 24Cruzeiro W 1–2 Palmeiras WO2.5

More: Cruzeiro W season stats · Palmeiras 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.