Today's matches
Matchday 1Full time
Real Racing Club de Santander vs Villarreal CF — match prediction
22Final score
· Full time
How our pre-match read held up
The result went against our pre-match call.
The prediction
Pre-match probability
Full-time / regulation result. Sums to 100%.
Real Racing Club de Santander 23%, draw 26%, Villarreal CF 51%.
Model comparison
1.02Expected goals1.65
42%Projected control58%
Expected goals and control are derived estimates from the model's ratings — indicative leans, not measured match stats.
Goals lean
Over 2.5 goals: 50% · Under 2.5: 50%.
At a glance
- Tempo
- balanced
Why this number
Why this number
- Elo ratings: Real Racing Club de Santander 1419 vs Villarreal CF 1564 (gap ~144).
- Real Racing Club de Santander gets a home-venue bump.
- low data quality — Real Racing Club de Santander 7 matches of history, Villarreal CF 121. We have barely seen Real Racing Club de Santander at this level — their rating is carried over from a lower division and could be well off. Wider uncertainty than usual.
- Built from locked pre-match data: long-run team ratings, nudged only within tight caps by real, confirmed factors (never a guess) — see every one below.
Tactical read
Tactical read
AI-generatedVillarreal arrives as clear favourites—superior pedigree, better attacking output, and the model gives them a commanding edge. Racing will need to be disciplined and clinical on the break; Villarreal will dominate the ball but must avoid complacency against a side fighting for every point at home.
Key matchup
Villarreal's attacking threat against Racing's compact defensive shape.
Biggest factor
The vast gulf in attacking quality—Villarreal's finishing threat is the model's main read.
AI-generated context based on a statistical model. Full-time/regulation result only. Not betting advice; no specific current team-news is used.
Context
Display-only — none of this is used in the prediction above.
Confirmed lineups
via FlashscoreContext only — these confirmed lineups are not used in the prediction above. By kick-off, public team news is already reflected in any market line.
Lineups not available. We only show a confirmed starting XI when we can match this exact fixture to a Flashscore event — we never guess or invent one.
Venue
Venue not available. We only show a stadium when it comes from a source we can tie to this exact fixture — our scheduled-venue data, the club's registered home ground, or a matched Flashscore event. We never guess one.
Venue is shown for information only and is not used in the prediction.
Match stats
via FlashscoreReal measured stats for this match — shown for transparency. They are not part of the prediction above, which is a pre-match estimate from team ratings.
Match stats not available. They appear once a match is under way and Flashscore is carrying live stats for it — we never invent them.
Share / sources
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Sources & freshness
- Fixtures: football-data.org (live)
- Model: Elo + margin-of-victory, chronological replay with season boundary (re-centre, regress, league-changer shrink) — club-tuned FairPlay model
- Ratings generated: 2026-09-21
- Page generated:
- Scope: full-time / regulation
Predictions are estimates, not advice. WisePicks is a fan dashboard, not a betting product. The numbers come from a simple statistical model. They carry real uncertainty and can be wrong. We don't show odds or encourage gambling.