Valur Reykjavik v IA Akranes — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Urvalsdeild · Sunday, 30 August 2026. Final score 2–2 (half-time 0–1). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 71% 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 goals71%29%Over
Over 3.5 goals55%45%Over
Both teams to score72%28%Yes

The result model puts Valur Reykjavik at 51%, the draw at 18% and IA Akranes at 31%, from expected goals of 2.8 and 2.2.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Urvalsdeild has produced over 2.5 goals in 63% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Valur Reykjavik have 14 in 20 this season (9 of 10 at home), IA Akranes 13 in 20 (8 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 66% and 64%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 20 and 20 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 67% and 63%.

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 64%.

Head to head. These sides have met 6 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 65%.

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 88%, from expected goals of 2.8 for Valur Reykjavik and 2.2 for IA Akranes. Folding in 30% of that view gives 71%.

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
Valur Reykjavik2070%55%70%
IA Akranes2065%50%70%

Head to head

16 Jun 26IA Akranes 1–0 Valur ReykjavikU2.5
5 Aug 25IA Akranes 2–2 Valur ReykjavikO2.5
10 May 25Valur Reykjavik 6–1 IA AkranesO2.5
26 Oct 24Valur Reykjavik 6–1 IA AkranesO2.5
28 Jun 24IA Akranes 3–2 Valur ReykjavikO2.5
7 Apr 24Valur Reykjavik 2–0 IA AkranesU2.5

More: Valur Reykjavik season stats · IA Akranes season stats · Urvalsdeild table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.