Nottingham Forest v Tottenham — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Premier League · Saturday, 5 September 2026. Final score 0–0 (half-time 0–0). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 52% 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 goals52%48%Over
Over 3.5 goals26%74%no pick
Both teams to score52%48%Yes

The result model puts Nottingham Forest at 34%, the draw at 29% and Tottenham at 37%, from expected goals of 1.11 and 1.18.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Premier League has produced over 2.5 goals in 55% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Nottingham Forest have 1 in 2 this season (0 of 1 at home), Tottenham 1 in 2 (1 of 1 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 55% and 55%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 2 and 2 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 54% 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 56%.

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 57%.

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 40%, from expected goals of 1.11 for Nottingham Forest and 1.18 for Tottenham. Folding in 30% of that view gives 52%.

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
Nottingham Forest250%50%50%
Tottenham250%0%0%

Head to head

22 Mar 26Tottenham 0–3 Nottingham ForestO2.5
14 Dec 25Nottingham Forest 3–0 TottenhamO2.5
21 Apr 25Tottenham 1–2 Nottingham ForestO2.5
26 Dec 24Nottingham Forest 1–0 TottenhamU2.5
7 Apr 24Tottenham 3–1 Nottingham ForestO2.5
15 Dec 23Nottingham Forest 0–2 TottenhamU2.5

More: Nottingham Forest season stats · Tottenham season stats · Premier League table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.