Deportivo Maldonado v Penarol — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Primera Division · 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 47% 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 goals47%53%Under
Over 3.5 goals21%79%no pick
Both teams to score54%46%Yes

The result model puts Deportivo Maldonado at 26%, the draw at 28% and Penarol at 45%, from expected goals of 0.98 and 1.37.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Primera Division has produced over 2.5 goals in 44% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Deportivo Maldonado have 12 in 24 this season (7 of 12 at home), Penarol 12 in 24 (2 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 47% and 47%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 24 and 24 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 47% and 45%.

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 45%.

Head to head. These sides have met 3 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 67%. 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 46%.

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 42%, from expected goals of 0.98 for Deportivo Maldonado and 1.37 for Penarol. Folding in 30% of that view gives 45%.

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 47%.

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
Deportivo Maldonado2450%25%58%
Penarol2450%21%54%

Head to head

22 Feb 26Penarol 2–1 Deportivo MaldonadoO2.5
6 Jul 24Penarol 1–1 Deportivo MaldonadoU2.5
7 Apr 24Deportivo Maldonado 1–2 PenarolO2.5
5 Mar 23Penarol 2–1 Deportivo MaldonadoO2.5
19 Jun 22Deportivo Maldonado 1–3 PenarolO2.5
19 Mar 22Penarol 1–1 Deportivo MaldonadoU2.5

More: Deportivo Maldonado season stats · Penarol season stats · Primera Division table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.