Rudes v NK Slaven Belupo — prediction, stats and goal analysis

HNL · Friday, 18 September 2026. Final score 2–2 (half-time 0–0). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 57% 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 goals57%43%Over
Over 3.5 goals37%63%no pick
Both teams to score54%46%Yes

The result model puts Rudes at 49%, the draw at 24% and NK Slaven Belupo at 27%, from expected goals of 1.8 and 1.29.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. HNL has produced over 2.5 goals in 50% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Rudes have 6 in 7 this season (3 of 3 at home), NK Slaven Belupo 4 in 7 (2 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 58% and 52%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 7 and 7 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 58% and 55%.

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 55%.

Head to head. These sides have met 3 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 67%. 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 56%.

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 1.8 for Rudes and 1.29 for NK Slaven Belupo. Folding in 30% of that view gives 57%.

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
Rudes786%71%57%
NK Slaven Belupo757%14%29%

Head to head

12 Apr 24Rudes 1–3 NK Slaven BelupoO2.5
3 Feb 24NK Slaven Belupo 4–0 RudesO2.5
20 Oct 23Rudes 0–0 NK Slaven BelupoU2.5
5 Aug 23NK Slaven Belupo 3–2 RudesO2.5

More: Rudes season stats · NK Slaven Belupo season stats · HNL table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.