SC Cambuur vs AZ Alkmaar
Our model puts an AZ Alkmaar win at 56.8% in this Eredivisie fixture — a moderate lean. Expected goals run 1.04 to 1.89.
What this probability has been worth
A number is worth what it has been worth. Across 1,941 predictions published before kick-off and scored against the result afterwards, the calls we priced between 55% and 65% came in 50.7% of the time — 355 fixtures in that band. That is 8.8 points below what the model claimed, so read this figure as optimistic: in this range it has been saying more than it could support. We publish the gap rather than quietly shading the number, because a record that only shows its good bands is not a record.
Where we disagree with the market
Bookmakers price AZ Alkmaar at 1.45, which implies about 69%. Our model has it at 56.8% — 12.2 points lower. That is a wide gap, and it is worth being plain about what it means: it is not a claim that the price is wrong and we are right. It means two methods that usually agree have landed far apart on this one, and only the result will say which of them read it better.
The ratings gap
AZ Alkmaar carry a rating of 1646 against 1486 for SC Cambuur, a gap of 160 points. On our scale that is the difference between a side that controls most of its fixtures and one that has to earn each of them. It is also the single largest input into the probabilities above.
Attack against defence
The single rating hides where the mismatch actually sits. Splitting it, AZ Alkmaar's attack should find room against SC Cambuur's defence, by 150 points. That is the mechanism behind the expected-goals line rather than a separate opinion about it.
Finding the target
AZ Alkmaar hits the target more often than almost anyone: 40.1% of their shots are on goal over their last matches. The average across the sides we have figures for is 34.1%. Accuracy is not the same as scoring — it says how much of a side's shooting is worth a goalkeeper's attention, which is the part that does not swing as wildly from week to week as goals do.
How often they shoot
AZ Alkmaar take 18.1 shots a match against an average of 11.9. Volume like that usually means territory rather than precision, and it is why a side can dominate a match and still not win it.
Behind the defence
75% of the shots on target AZ Alkmaar face do not end up in the net, against 67.3% for the sides we measure. That is a keeper and a defence having a good run of it — and a figure that tends to drift back toward the middle, which is worth remembering before reading too much into it.