Sabah FA v Imisli FK — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Premyer Liqa · Saturday, 19 September 2026. Final score 3–1 (half-time 2–0). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 49% 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 goals49%51%Under
Over 3.5 goals27%73%no pick
Both teams to score43%57%No

The result model puts Sabah FA at 71%, the draw at 20% and Imisli FK at 9%, from expected goals of 1.96 and 0.55.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Premyer Liqa has produced over 2.5 goals in 48% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Sabah FA have 2 in 4 this season (1 of 2 at home), Imisli FK 3 in 5 (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 48% and 50%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 4 and 5 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 53% and 41%.

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 47%.

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 48%.

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 46%, from expected goals of 1.96 for Sabah FA and 0.55 for Imisli FK. Folding in 30% of that view gives 48%.

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 49%.

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
Sabah FA450%25%0%
Imisli FK560%40%60%

Head to head

14 Mar 26Imisli FK 0–5 Sabah FAO2.5
29 Nov 25Imisli FK 0–3 Sabah FAO2.5
31 Aug 25Sabah FA 0–1 Imisli FKU2.5

More: Sabah FA season stats · Imisli FK season stats · Premyer Liqa table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.