Jong AZ v Jong Utrecht — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Eerste Divisie · Monday, 31 August 2026. Final score 2–1 (half-time 1–1). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 60% 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 goals60%40%Over
Over 3.5 goals40%60%no pick
Both teams to score60%40%Yes

The result model puts Jong AZ at 33%, the draw at 27% and Jong Utrecht at 40%, from expected goals of 1.27 and 1.42.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Eerste Divisie has produced over 2.5 goals in 64% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Jong AZ have 3 in 4 this season (1 of 2 at home), Jong Utrecht 4 in 4 (2 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 66% and 69%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 4 and 4 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 66% 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 65%.

Head to head. These sides have met 5 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 60%. 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 64%.

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 51%, from expected goals of 1.27 for Jong AZ and 1.42 for Jong Utrecht. Folding in 30% of that view gives 60%.

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
Jong AZ475%50%75%
Jong Utrecht4100%50%100%

Head to head

12 Dec 25Jong AZ 1–4 Jong UtrechtO2.5
30 Sept 25Jong Utrecht 0–0 Jong AZU2.5
7 Mar 25Jong AZ 5–1 Jong UtrechtO2.5
22 Oct 24Jong Utrecht 0–1 Jong AZU2.5
12 Feb 24Jong Utrecht 1–2 Jong AZO2.5
14 Aug 23Jong AZ 1–0 Jong UtrechtU2.5

More: Jong AZ season stats · Jong Utrecht season stats · Eerste Divisie table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.