FCSB v Petrolul Ploiesti — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Liga I · Monday, 14 September 2026. Final score 2–2 (half-time 2–1). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 47% 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 goals47%53%Under
Over 3.5 goals28%72%no pick
Both teams to score52%48%Yes

The result model puts FCSB at 47%, the draw at 26% and Petrolul Ploiesti at 28%, from expected goals of 1.57 and 1.15.

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. FCSB have 4 in 8 this season (3 of 4 at home), Petrolul Ploiesti 3 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 47% and 44%.

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 49% and 38%.

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 44%.

Head to head. These sides have met 7 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 29%. 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 51%, from expected goals of 1.57 for FCSB and 1.15 for Petrolul Ploiesti. Folding in 30% of that view gives 46%.

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 47%.

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
FCSB850%38%50%
Petrolul Ploiesti838%25%25%

Head to head

24 Apr 26FCSB 3–1 Petrolul PloiestiO2.5
22 Nov 25FCSB 1–1 Petrolul PloiestiU2.5
19 Jul 25Petrolul Ploiesti 0–1 FCSBU2.5
6 Feb 25Petrolul Ploiesti 0–0 FCSBU2.5
21 Sept 24FCSB 1–1 Petrolul PloiestiU2.5
3 Mar 24FCSB 1–0 Petrolul PloiestiU2.5

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