Northampton v Crawley Town — prediction, stats and goal analysis

League Two · Tuesday, 1 September 2026 · 19:45. Final score 1–1 (half-time 1–0). Before kick-off we rated it 52% under 2.5 goals — the match finished with 2, so that call landed. That rating was frozen into a version-controlled ledger before the game and has not been touched since.

Open this match in the app →

Our ratings for this match

MarketYesNoOur call
Over 2.5 goals49%51%Under
Over 3.5 goals23%77%no pick
Both teams to score46%54%No

The result model puts Northampton at 55%, the draw at 26% and Crawley Town at 19%, from expected goals of 1.54 and 0.79.

Bookmaker prices and where we differ

MarketPriceImpliedOur ratingEdge
Over 2.5 goals1.8551%49%-3%
Under 2.5 goals1.9549%51%+3%
Both teams to score1.7354%46%-8%

Implied percentages have the bookmaker's margin removed, so they add to 100 and can be compared with our rating directly. Edge is simply the gap between the two. A positive edge means our model thinks the outcome is likelier than the price suggests — it is not a tip, and a high probability with a negative edge is a poor bet however safe it looks. Prices are a pre-match snapshot from a single bookmaker and move constantly.

Match odds: Northampton 1.80, draw 3.50, Crawley Town 4.20.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. League Two has produced over 2.5 goals in 49% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Northampton have 0 in 3 this season (0 of 1 at home), Crawley Town 1 in 3 (1 of 1 away). Those records are pulled toward the league rate with the weight of about 32 matches — enough that two or three unusual games cannot swing a rating — giving 43% 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 14 — the point at which our testing showed they stop adding accuracy. That moves the two figures to 47% and 45%.

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 46%.

Head to head. These sides have met 2 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 100%. That nudges the number 10% of the way toward the head-to-head pattern — deliberately small, because fixtures change more than reputations do — landing on 52%.

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 41%, from expected goals of 1.54 for Northampton and 0.79 for Crawley Town. Folding in 30% of that view gives 49%.

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
Northampton30%0%33%
Crawley Town333%0%33%

Head to head

26 Apr 25Crawley Town 3–0 NorthamptonO2.5
26 Oct 24Northampton 3–0 Crawley TownO2.5
4 Mar 23Northampton 1–0 Crawley TownU2.5
16 Aug 22Crawley Town 2–3 NorthamptonO2.5
8 Jan 22Northampton 0–1 Crawley TownU2.5
28 Aug 21Crawley Town 0–0 NorthamptonU2.5

More: Northampton season stats · Crawley Town season stats · League Two table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.