Auxerre v Nice — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Ligue 1 · Saturday, 12 September 2026. Final score 1–0 (half-time 0–0). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 50% 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 goals50%50%Over
Over 3.5 goals31%69%no pick
Both teams to score53%47%Yes

The result model puts Auxerre at 46%, the draw at 28% and Nice at 26%, from expected goals of 1.42 and 0.99.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Ligue 1 has produced over 2.5 goals in 53% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Auxerre have 3 in 3 this season (1 of 1 at home), Nice 1 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 58% and 51%.

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 49% and 51%.

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 51%.

Head to head. These sides have met 4 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 75%. 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 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 43%, from expected goals of 1.42 for Auxerre and 0.99 for Nice. Folding in 30% of that view gives 50%.

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
Auxerre3100%100%100%
Nice333%0%33%

Head to head

10 May 26Auxerre 2–1 NiceO2.5
23 Aug 25Nice 3–1 AuxerreO2.5
14 Mar 25Nice 1–1 AuxerreU2.5
18 Aug 24Auxerre 2–1 NiceO2.5
3 Mar 23Nice 1–1 AuxerreU2.5
16 Oct 22Auxerre 1–1 NiceU2.5

More: Auxerre season stats · Nice season stats · Ligue 1 table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.