Nancy v Dunkerque — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Ligue 2 · Friday, 28 August 2026. Final score 2–0 (half-time 1–0). 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 goals35%65%no pick
Both teams to score56%44%Yes

The result model puts Nancy at 21%, the draw at 22% and Dunkerque at 57%, from expected goals of 1.17 and 2.06.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Ligue 2 has produced over 2.5 goals in 47% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Nancy have 0 in 3 this season (0 of 1 at home), Dunkerque 2 in 3 (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 41% and 49%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 3 and 3 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 49% and 50%.

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 49%.

Head to head. These sides have met 2 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 100%. 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 63%, from expected goals of 1.17 for Nancy and 2.06 for Dunkerque. 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
Nancy30%0%0%
Dunkerque367%67%67%

Head to head

9 May 26Nancy 3–2 DunkerqueO2.5
22 Aug 25Dunkerque 1–3 NancyO2.5
19 Feb 22Nancy 2–0 DunkerqueU2.5
11 Sept 21Dunkerque 0–0 NancyU2.5

More: Nancy season stats · Dunkerque season stats · Ligue 2 table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.