Valencia vs Villarreal
Our model puts a Villarreal win at 38.3% in this La Liga fixture — close to a three-way split. Expected goals run 1.23 to 1.31.
What this probability has been worth
A number is worth what it has been worth. Across 1,904 predictions published before kick-off and scored against the result afterwards, the calls we priced between 35% and 45% came in 38.7% of the time — 700 fixtures in that band. The model claimed 40.6%, so the two are within 1.8 points of each other. In this range the stated probability has meant roughly what it says.
Where we disagree with the market
Bookmakers price Villarreal at 2.1, which implies about 47.6%. Our model has it at 38.3% — 9.3 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.
Attack against defence
The single rating hides where the mismatch actually sits. Splitting it, Villarreal's attack should find room against Valencia's defence, by 132 points. That is the mechanism behind the expected-goals line rather than a separate opinion about it.
Finding the target
Valencia struggles to hit the target: 26.3% 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.
Early or late
78.6% of Valencia's goals have come after the break, against 56.2% for the sides we measure, over 14 goals. A side that scores this late is usually one that grows into matches or finishes them stronger than it starts — and one whose half-time score says less than usual about the result.