Toulouse v Lyon — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Ligue 1 · Saturday, 22 August 2026. Final score 0–2 (half-time 0–0). 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 goals30%70%no pick
Both teams to score51%49%Yes

The result model puts Toulouse at 34%, the draw at 26% and Lyon at 39%, from expected goals of 1.33 and 1.44.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Ligue 1 has produced over 2.5 goals in 53% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Toulouse have 0 in 0 this season, Lyon 0 in 0. 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 53% and 53%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 0 and 0 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 54% and 54%.

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%.

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 55%.

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 52%, from expected goals of 1.33 for Toulouse and 1.44 for Lyon. Folding in 30% of that view gives 54%.

Season opener. One of these sides has not played a league game yet. Openers run about 2.5 points under their league's norm, measured across 2,727 of them, so the rating is docked to 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
Toulouse0———
Lyon0———

Head to head

10 May 26Toulouse 2–1 LyonO2.5
5 Oct 25Lyon 1–2 ToulouseO2.5
18 Jan 25Lyon 0–0 ToulouseU2.5
29 Sept 24Toulouse 1–2 LyonO2.5
15 Mar 24Toulouse 2–3 LyonO2.5
10 Dec 23Lyon 3–0 ToulouseO2.5

Things worth knowing

More: Toulouse season stats · Lyon season stats · Ligue 1 table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.