NEC Nijmegen v Feyenoord — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Eredivisie · Saturday, 5 September 2026. Final score 1–3 (half-time 0–0). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 66% 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 goals66%34%Over
Over 3.5 goals46%54%Over
Both teams to score67%33%Yes

The result model puts NEC Nijmegen at 29%, the draw at 22% and Feyenoord at 50%, from expected goals of 1.59 and 2.12.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Eredivisie 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. NEC Nijmegen have 3 in 3 this season (1 of 1 at home), Feyenoord 3 in 4 (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 67% and 65%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 3 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 68% and 61%.

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 50%. 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 72%, from expected goals of 1.59 for NEC Nijmegen and 2.12 for Feyenoord. Folding in 30% of that view gives 66%.

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
NEC Nijmegen3100%67%100%
Feyenoord475%75%75%

Head to head

12 Apr 26NEC Nijmegen 1–1 FeyenoordU2.5
23 Nov 25Feyenoord 2–4 NEC NijmegenO2.5
1 Mar 25Feyenoord 0–0 NEC NijmegenU2.5
28 Sept 24NEC Nijmegen 1–1 FeyenoordU2.5
12 May 24NEC Nijmegen 2–3 FeyenoordO2.5
14 Jan 24Feyenoord 2–2 NEC NijmegenO2.5

More: NEC Nijmegen season stats · Feyenoord season stats · Eredivisie table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.