Sabah FA v Qarabag — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Premyer Liqa · Sunday, 25 October 2026 · 14:00. Our rating makes this 51% to go over 2.5 goals, so our lean is over. The Premyer Liqa average is 48%.

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Our ratings for this match

MarketYesNoOur call
Over 2.5 goals51%49%Over
Over 3.5 goals29%71%no pick
Both teams to score50%50%Yes

The result model puts Sabah FA at 49%, the draw at 26% and Qarabag at 25%, from expected goals of 1.59 and 1.06.

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. Sabah FA have 4 in 7 this season (2 of 3 at home), Qarabag 3 in 7 (0 of 3 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 50% and 47%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 7 and 7 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 53% and 48%.

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 50%.

Head to head. These sides have met 10 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 60%. 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 49%, from expected goals of 1.59 for Sabah FA and 1.06 for Qarabag. Folding in 30% of that view gives 50%.

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 51%.

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
Sabah FA757%43%14%
Qarabag743%43%57%

Head to head

18 Apr 26Qarabag 0–1 Sabah FAU2.5
1 Mar 26Qarabag 3–3 Sabah FAO2.5
18 Dec 25Sabah FA 2–1 QarabagO2.5
27 Apr 25Sabah FA 1–1 QarabagU2.5
22 Feb 25Qarabag 1–1 Sabah FAU2.5
7 Dec 24Sabah FA 1–1 QarabagU2.5

More: Sabah FA season stats · Qarabag season stats · Premyer Liqa table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.