Washington Spirit W v Angel City W — prediction, stats and goal analysis

NWSL (W) · Saturday, 26 September 2026. Final score 0–1 (half-time 0–0). Before kick-off we rated it 52% over 2.5 goals — the match finished with 1, 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 goals53%47%Over
Over 3.5 goals30%70%no pick
Both teams to score56%44%Yes

The result model puts Washington Spirit W at 33%, the draw at 25% and Angel City W at 42%, from expected goals of 1.37 and 1.58.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. NWSL (W) 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. Washington Spirit W have 11 in 25 this season (5 of 12 at home), Angel City W 15 in 25 (6 of 12 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 46% and 54%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 25 and 25 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 47% and 52%.

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 49%.

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 51%.

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 56%, from expected goals of 1.37 for Washington Spirit W and 1.58 for Angel City W. Folding in 30% of that view gives 52%.

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 53%.

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
Washington Spirit W2544%16%40%
Angel City W2560%24%60%

Head to head

17 Aug 26Angel City W 1–1 Washington Spirit WU2.5
19 Sept 25Angel City W 2–2 Washington Spirit WO2.5
3 May 25Washington Spirit W 3–4 Angel City WO2.5
28 Sept 24Angel City W 1–2 Washington Spirit WO2.5
19 May 24Washington Spirit W 4–2 Angel City WO2.5
11 Jun 23Washington Spirit W 2–1 Angel City WO2.5

More: Washington Spirit W season stats · Angel City W season stats · NWSL (W) table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.