Beitar Jerusalem v Maccabi Petah Tikva — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Ligat Ha'al · Tuesday, 15 September 2026. Final score 3–1 (half-time 2–0). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 60% 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 goals60%40%Over
Over 3.5 goals37%63%no pick
Both teams to score58%42%Yes

The result model puts Beitar Jerusalem at 52%, the draw at 23% and Maccabi Petah Tikva at 25%, from expected goals of 1.87 and 1.22.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Ligat Ha'al has produced over 2.5 goals in 56% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Beitar Jerusalem have 2 in 3 this season (1 of 1 at home), Maccabi Petah Tikva 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 57% and 60%.

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 60% and 60%.

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 59%.

Head to head. These sides have met 5 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 80%. 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 60%.

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 60%, from expected goals of 1.87 for Beitar Jerusalem and 1.22 for Maccabi Petah Tikva. Folding in 30% of that view gives 60%.

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
Beitar Jerusalem367%33%33%
Maccabi Petah Tikva3100%0%100%

Head to head

2 Mar 25Maccabi Petah Tikva 1–2 Beitar JerusalemO2.5
4 Dec 24Beitar Jerusalem 5–0 Maccabi Petah TikvaO2.5
20 May 24Beitar Jerusalem 1–1 Maccabi Petah TikvaU2.5
16 Mar 24Maccabi Petah Tikva 0–3 Beitar JerusalemO2.5
31 Dec 23Beitar Jerusalem 3–2 Maccabi Petah TikvaO2.5
30 Apr 22Beitar Jerusalem 2–2 Maccabi Petah TikvaO2.5

More: Beitar Jerusalem season stats · Maccabi Petah Tikva season stats · Ligat Ha'al table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.