Caernarfon Town v The New Saints — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Cymru Premier · Monday, 31 August 2026. Final score 2–3 (half-time 1–2). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 59% 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 goals59%41%Over
Over 3.5 goals38%62%no pick
Both teams to score53%47%Yes

The result model puts Caernarfon Town at 14%, the draw at 19% and The New Saints at 66%, from expected goals of 0.94 and 2.25.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Cymru Premier has produced over 2.5 goals in 54% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Caernarfon Town have 4 in 5 this season (2 of 2 at home), The New Saints 2 in 5 (1 of 2 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 59% and 52%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 5 and 5 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 57% and 59%.

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 57%.

Head to head. These sides have met 12 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 75%. 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 58%.

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 62%, from expected goals of 0.94 for Caernarfon Town and 2.25 for The New Saints. Folding in 30% of that view gives 59%.

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
Caernarfon Town580%20%60%
The New Saints540%40%20%

Head to head

27 Mar 26Caernarfon Town 0–4 The New SaintsO2.5
20 Feb 26The New Saints 2–1 Caernarfon TownO2.5
28 Nov 25The New Saints 2–0 Caernarfon TownU2.5
7 Oct 25Caernarfon Town 1–3 The New SaintsO2.5
11 Mar 25The New Saints 2–0 Caernarfon TownU2.5
11 Feb 25Caernarfon Town 0–1 The New SaintsU2.5

More: Caernarfon Town season stats · The New Saints season stats · Cymru Premier table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.