Zira v Şamaxı FK — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Premyer Liqa · Saturday, 10 October 2026. Final score 1–1 (half-time 0–0). Before kick-off we rated it 56% 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 goals44%56%Under
Over 3.5 goals21%79%no pick
Both teams to score46%54%No

The result model puts Zira at 45%, the draw at 32% and Şamaxı FK at 23%, from expected goals of 1.17 and 0.74.

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. Zira have 2 in 6 this season (1 of 4 at home), Şamaxı FK 3 in 6 (2 of 5 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 45% and 48%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 6 and 6 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 45% and 47%.

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 46%.

Head to head. These sides have met 7 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 57%. 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 47%.

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 1.17 for Zira and 0.74 for Şamaxı FK. Folding in 30% of that view gives 42%.

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 44%.

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
Zira633%33%33%
Şamaxı FK650%33%67%

Head to head

7 Apr 26Zira 1–1 Şamaxı FKU2.5
13 Dec 25Şamaxı FK 2–1 ZiraO2.5
19 Sept 25Zira 2–1 Şamaxı FKO2.5
30 Mar 25Zira 3–0 Şamaxı FKO2.5
24 Jan 25Şamaxı FK 1–2 ZiraO2.5
2 Nov 24Şamaxı FK 0–2 ZiraU2.5

More: Zira season stats · Şamaxı 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.