Arges Pitesti v FC Botosani — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Liga I · Sunday, 13 September 2026. Final score 1–1 (half-time 0–0). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 41% 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 goals41%59%Under
Over 3.5 goals23%77%no pick
Both teams to score47%53%No

The result model puts Arges Pitesti at 44%, the draw at 32% and FC Botosani at 24%, from expected goals of 1.11 and 0.73.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Liga I has produced over 2.5 goals in 46% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Arges Pitesti have 0 in 8 this season (0 of 4 at home), FC Botosani 4 in 8 (3 of 4 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 35% and 47%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 8 and 8 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 38% and 46%.

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 43%.

Head to head. These sides have met 2 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 43%.

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 28%, from expected goals of 1.11 for Arges Pitesti and 0.73 for FC Botosani. Folding in 30% of that view gives 39%.

Calibration. Tested against 97,729 past matches, our ratings below 55% have run consistently too pessimistic — a figure in the high 30s, for instance, has come in about four points higher. So ratings in that range are lifted part-way back, giving 41%.

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
Arges Pitesti80%0%13%
FC Botosani850%38%50%

Head to head

13 Dec 25Arges Pitesti 0–0 FC BotosaniU2.5
11 Aug 25FC Botosani 3–1 Arges PitestiO2.5
9 Apr 23FC Botosani 1–0 Arges PitestiU2.5
29 Jan 23Arges Pitesti 0–2 FC BotosaniU2.5
1 Sept 22FC Botosani 0–0 Arges PitestiU2.5
7 Mar 22FC Botosani 1–2 Arges PitestiO2.5

More: Arges Pitesti season stats · FC Botosani season stats · Liga I table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.