Inverness CT v Arbroath — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Championship · Saturday, 17 October 2026 · 15:00. Final score 2–0 (half-time 2–0). Before kick-off we rated it 58% 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 goals42%58%Under
Over 3.5 goals20%80%no pick
Both teams to score46%54%No

The result model puts Inverness CT at 49%, the draw at 30% and Arbroath at 21%, from expected goals of 1.27 and 0.73.

Bookmaker prices and where we differ

MarketPriceImpliedOur ratingEdge
Over 2.5 goals1.9050%42%-8%
Under 2.5 goals1.9050%58%+8%
Both teams to score2.0046%46%0%

Implied percentages have the bookmaker's margin removed, so they add to 100 and can be compared with our rating directly. Edge is simply the gap between the two. A positive edge means our model thinks the outcome is likelier than the price suggests — it is not a tip, and a high probability with a negative edge is a poor bet however safe it looks. Prices are a pre-match snapshot from a single bookmaker and move constantly.

Match odds: Inverness CT 1.48, draw 3.80, Arbroath 5.75.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Championship has produced over 2.5 goals in 43% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Inverness CT have 4 in 10 this season (0 of 5 at home), Arbroath 5 in 10 (3 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 42% and 45%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 10 and 10 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 41% and 43%.

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 42%.

Head to head. These sides have met 8 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 43%.

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 32%, from expected goals of 1.27 for Inverness CT and 0.73 for Arbroath. Folding in 30% of that view gives 39%.

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 42%.

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
Inverness CT1040%30%50%
Arbroath1050%10%40%

Head to head

8 Aug 26Arbroath 0–0 Inverness CTU2.5
26 Apr 25Inverness CT 3–0 ArbroathO2.5
8 Feb 25Arbroath 3–0 Inverness CTO2.5
14 Dec 24Inverness CT 0–2 ArbroathU2.5
5 Oct 24Arbroath 1–0 Inverness CTU2.5
23 Jul 24Inverness CT 0–0 ArbroathU2.5

More: Inverness CT season stats · Arbroath season stats · Championship table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.