Neftchi Baku v Araz — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Premyer Liqa · Sunday, 23 August 2026. Final score 5–0 (half-time 4–0). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 55% 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 goals55%45%Over
Over 3.5 goals33%67%no pick
Both teams to score52%48%Yes

The result model puts Neftchi Baku at 58%, the draw at 21% and Araz at 21%, from expected goals of 2.1 and 1.19.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Premyer Liqa has produced over 2.5 goals in 48% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Neftchi Baku have 1 in 1 this season, Araz 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 50% and 46%.

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 51% and 52%.

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 51%.

Head to head. These sides have met 11 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 45%. 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 51%.

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 64%, from expected goals of 2.1 for Neftchi Baku and 1.19 for Araz. Folding in 30% of that view gives 55%.

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
Neftchi Baku1100%100%100%
Araz10%0%0%

Head to head

11 Apr 26Neftchi Baku 2–1 ArazO2.5
1 Feb 26Araz 0–4 Neftchi BakuO2.5
19 Oct 25Neftchi Baku 2–2 ArazO2.5
29 Mar 25Neftchi Baku 1–1 ArazU2.5
26 Jan 25Araz 2–1 Neftchi BakuO2.5
1 Nov 24Neftchi Baku 0–1 ArazU2.5

More: Neftchi Baku season stats · Araz season stats · Premyer Liqa table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.