NEC Nijmegen v Groningen — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Eredivisie · Sunday, 25 October 2026 · 13:30. Our rating makes this 68% to go over 2.5 goals, so our lean is over. The Eredivisie average is 64%.

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Our ratings for this match

MarketYesNoOur call
Over 2.5 goals68%32%Over
Over 3.5 goals45%55%Over
Both teams to score68%32%Yes

The result model puts NEC Nijmegen at 38%, the draw at 22% and Groningen at 40%, from expected goals of 1.91 and 1.97.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Eredivisie has produced over 2.5 goals in 64% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. NEC Nijmegen have 7 in 9 this season (4 of 5 at home), Groningen 8 in 9 (3 of 4 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 68% and 71%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 9 and 9 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 68% and 62%.

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 65%.

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 65%.

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 74%, from expected goals of 1.91 for NEC Nijmegen and 1.97 for Groningen. Folding in 30% of that view gives 68%.

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
NEC Nijmegen978%56%89%
Groningen989%67%89%

Head to head

10 May 26Groningen 2–1 NEC NijmegenO2.5
9 Nov 25NEC Nijmegen 2–0 GroningenU2.5
8 Feb 25Groningen 2–1 NEC NijmegenO2.5
3 Nov 24NEC Nijmegen 6–0 GroningenO2.5
25 Apr 23Groningen 0–1 NEC NijmegenU2.5
26 Aug 22NEC Nijmegen 1–1 GroningenU2.5

More: NEC Nijmegen season stats · Groningen season stats · Eredivisie table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.