FA Cup · Sunday, 8 November 2026 · 17:15. Our rating makes this 66% to go over 2.5 goals, though we make no pick on this fixture — see below. The FA Cup average is 50%.
| Market | Yes | No | Our call |
|---|---|---|---|
| Over 2.5 goals | 66% | 34% | no pick |
| Over 3.5 goals | 33% | 67% | no pick |
| Both teams to score | 43% | 57% | no pick |
The result model puts Oldham at 39%, the draw at 29% and Sheffield Wednesday at 32%, from expected goals of 2 and 0.66.
The league sets the starting point. FA Cup has produced over 2.5 goals in 50% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.
Each side's own record. Oldham have 6 in 11 this season (4 of 6 at home), Sheffield Wednesday 0 in 0. 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 52% and 50%.
Last season still counts, briefly. With 11 and 0 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 50% and 51%.
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%.
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 50%, from expected goals of 2 for Oldham and 0.66 for Sheffield Wednesday. Folding in 30% of that view gives 50%.
Season opener. One of these sides has not played a league game yet. Openers run about 2.5 points under their league's norm, measured across 2,727 of them, so the rating is docked to 48%.
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 49%.
Cup tie. Domestic cup games have produced more goals than the clubs' league form suggests, more so when the clubs are 2 divisions apart, so the rating moves to 66%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oldham | 11 | 55% | 18% | 45% |
| Sheffield Wednesday | 0 | — | — | — |
Our numbers give this match a 70% chance of at least one goal before half-time and 33% of two or more. The FA Cup rates, last season and this season combined, are 70% and 34%. After the break: 78% for a goal and 44% for two or more (league 78% and 43%). Oldham's last 50 games had a first-half goal 74% of the time and a second-half goal 80%; Sheffield Wednesday's last 50, 68% and 80%. A goal in both halves: 57% (league 54%). Highest-scoring half: second 43%, first 30%, level 27% — 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: Oldham season stats · Sheffield Wednesday season stats · FA Cup and every competition we cover. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.