Rodez v PAU — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Ligue 2 · Friday, 28 August 2026. Final score 2–2 (half-time 1–2). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 54% 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 goals54%46%Over
Over 3.5 goals31%69%no pick
Both teams to score55%45%Yes

The result model puts Rodez at 51%, the draw at 24% and PAU at 25%, from expected goals of 1.78 and 1.17.

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. Rodez have 2 in 3 this season (1 of 1 at home), PAU 0 in 3 (0 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 49% and 41%.

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 48% and 56%.

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 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 53%.

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 56%, from expected goals of 1.78 for Rodez and 1.17 for PAU. Folding in 30% of that view gives 54%.

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
Rodez367%67%67%
PAU30%0%0%

Head to head

3 Jan 26PAU 3–3 RodezO2.5
26 Sept 25Rodez 1–2 PAUO2.5
14 Feb 25PAU 0–5 RodezO2.5
6 Dec 24Rodez 1–0 PAUU2.5
13 Jan 24Rodez 2–1 PAUO2.5
2 Sept 23PAU 2–2 RodezO2.5

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