Modena v Empoli — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Serie B · Sunday, 20 September 2026. Final score 2–1 (half-time 0–1). Before kick-off we rated it 54% under 2.5 goals — the match finished with 3, so that call missed. That rating was frozen into a version-controlled ledger before the game and has not been touched since.

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Our ratings for this match

MarketYesNoOur call
Over 2.5 goals48%52%Under
Over 3.5 goals23%77%no pick
Both teams to score52%48%Yes

The result model puts Modena at 48%, the draw at 28% and Empoli at 24%, from expected goals of 1.42 and 0.92.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Serie B has produced over 2.5 goals in 49% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Modena have 2 in 4 this season (0 of 1 at home), Empoli 1 in 4 (1 of 2 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 49% and 45%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 4 and 4 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 48%.

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 48%.

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 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 42%, from expected goals of 1.42 for Modena and 0.92 for Empoli. 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 48%.

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
Modena450%0%50%
Empoli425%25%25%

Head to head

31 Jan 26Empoli 0–0 ModenaU2.5
24 Oct 25Modena 2–1 EmpoliO2.5

More: Modena season stats · Empoli season stats · Serie B table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.