A-League · Saturday, 31 October 2026 · 08:40. Our rating makes this 56% to go over 2.5 goals, so our lean is over. The A-League average is 56%.
| Market | Yes | No | Our call |
|---|---|---|---|
| Over 2.5 goals | 56% | 44% | Over |
| Over 3.5 goals | 36% | 64% | no pick |
| Both teams to score | 60% | 40% | Yes |
The result model puts Macarthur at 48%, the draw at 24% and Western Sydney Wanderers at 28%, from expected goals of 1.73 and 1.25.
The league sets the starting point. A-League has produced over 2.5 goals in 56% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.
Each side's own record. Macarthur have 1 in 1 this season (1 of 1 at home), Western Sydney Wanderers 0 in 1 (0 of 1 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 58% and 54%.
Last season still counts, briefly. With 1 and 1 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 55% and 52%.
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 54%.
Head to head. These sides have met 9 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 78%. 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 55%.
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 57%, from expected goals of 1.73 for Macarthur and 1.25 for Western Sydney Wanderers. Folding in 30% of that view gives 56%.
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.
| Team | Games | O2.5 | O3.5 | BTTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Macarthur | 1 | 100% | 0% | 100% |
| Western Sydney Wanderers | 1 | 0% | 0% | 0% |
Our numbers give this match a 73% chance of at least one goal before half-time and 40% of two or more. The A-League rates, last season and this season combined, are 72% and 35%. After the break: 82% for a goal and 46% for two or more (league 82% and 47%). Macarthur's last 50 games had a first-half goal 70% of the time and a second-half goal 88%; Western Sydney Wanderers's last 50, 78% and 78%. A goal in both halves: 60% (league 60%). Highest-scoring half: second 44%, first 32%, level 24% — close to the league's usual split, because team form says little about which half is busier. Team form says less about a single half than about a full match, so these numbers stay close to the league's.
Every match ranked the same way: first half goals today · second half goals today · goal in both halves today · tomorrow.
More: Macarthur season stats · Western Sydney Wanderers season stats · A-League table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.