Floresta v Botafogo PB — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Serie C · Saturday, 3 October 2026. Final score 1–1 (half-time 1–0). Before kick-off we rated it 62% under 2.5 goals — the match finished with 2, so that call landed. 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 goals38%62%Under
Over 3.5 goals15%85%no pick
Both teams to score46%54%No

The result model puts Floresta at 41%, the draw at 32% and Botafogo PB at 27%, from expected goals of 1.08 and 0.81.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Serie C has produced over 2.5 goals in 35% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Floresta have 10 in 23 this season (4 of 12 at home), Botafogo PB 8 in 23 (4 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 39% and 35%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 23 and 23 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 34% and 37%.

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 35%.

Head to head. These sides have met 4 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 75%. 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 37%.

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 30%, from expected goals of 1.08 for Floresta and 0.81 for Botafogo PB. Folding in 30% of that view gives 35%.

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 38%.

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
Floresta2343%9%57%
Botafogo PB2335%17%39%

Head to head

12 Sept 26Botafogo PB 0–1 FlorestaU2.5
25 Apr 26Botafogo PB 1–2 FlorestaO2.5
11 May 25Botafogo PB 2–3 FlorestaO2.5
21 Apr 24Floresta 1–2 Botafogo PBO2.5
4 Jun 23Botafogo PB 1–1 FlorestaU2.5
9 Jul 22Botafogo PB 1–1 FlorestaU2.5

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