Al Shamal v Al Wakrah — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Stars League · Thursday, 10 September 2026. Final score 1–1 (half-time 1–1). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 64% 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 goals64%36%Over
Over 3.5 goals45%55%Over
Both teams to score61%39%Yes

The result model puts Al Shamal at 52%, the draw at 22% and Al Wakrah at 26%, from expected goals of 2.09 and 1.43.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Stars League has produced over 2.5 goals in 65% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Al Shamal have 3 in 3 this season (1 of 1 at home), Al Wakrah 3 in 3 (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 69% and 69%.

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 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 61% 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 63%.

Head to head. These sides have met 5 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 40%. 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 62%.

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 68%, from expected goals of 2.09 for Al Shamal and 1.43 for Al Wakrah. Folding in 30% of that view gives 64%.

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
Al Shamal3100%100%100%
Al Wakrah3100%67%67%

Head to head

12 Mar 26Al Wakrah 0–1 Al ShamalU2.5
7 Nov 25Al Shamal 2–2 Al WakrahO2.5
18 Apr 25Al Shamal 1–0 Al WakrahU2.5
8 Dec 24Al Wakrah 0–3 Al ShamalO2.5
16 Apr 24Al Shamal 0–0 Al WakrahU2.5
27 Aug 23Al Wakrah 2–2 Al ShamalO2.5

More: Al Shamal season stats · Al Wakrah season stats · Stars League table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.