Championship

Middlesbrough 4–3 Norwich

Final score · Half-time 3–1 · All of yesterday's results

Our backtest says that, with the sharp market making Middlesbrough the most likely outcome at 53% (fair odds 1.89), Matchbook offered 1.95, a gap of +3.1% above the fair price (Strong value). This was reconstructed on 26 September 2026, not recorded at the time. Recent form — Middlesbrough: LWDWW; Norwich: WWLWW.

After the whistle

Match stats

Match statsMiddlesbroughNorwich
Possession %5050
Expected goals (xG)2.381.76
Shots1713
Shots on target65
Corners35
Yellow cards21
Red cards00
Fouls139
Offsides31
Goalkeeper saves22
Pass accuracy %8278

What the market said before kick-off

  • Middlesbrough win 51% happened
  • Draw 24% did not happen
  • Norwich win 25% did not happen
  • Over 2.5 goals 62% happened
  • Both teams score 63% happened

Pinnacle closing price with the margin removed, next to what happened. It is the market's view, not a tip: an outcome priced at 30% happens about 3 times in 10.

Referee: Adam Herczeg, England · Venue: Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough

Next matches

Line-ups, events and match stats: API-Football.

Starting line-ups

Middlesbrough 3-4-2-1

  1. R. Vítek GK
  2. A. Jones DF
  3. A. Malanda DF
  4. Neto Borges DF
  5. C. Brittain MF
  6. S. Berhalter MF
  7. A. Morris MF
  8. R. McGree MF
  9. A. Cozier-Duberry MF
  10. T. Conway MF
  11. W. Lankshear FW

Norwich 4-2-3-1

  1. V. Kovačević GK
  2. K. Fisher DF
  3. Ruairi McConville DF
  4. J. Córdoba DF
  5. B. Chrisene DF
  6. K. McLean MF
  7. P. Mattsson MF
  8. A. Brooks MF
  9. A. Ben Slimane MF
  10. A. Musaba MF
  11. M. Touré FW

Pinnacle, margin removed (home / draw / away): 52 / 24 / 24% when the line-ups came out, 51 / 24 / 25% at kick-off. The price barely moved after the line-ups.

In the big leagues, line-up news is usually already in the price by the time it is official.

The most likely result is not the same as value: value is where a bookmaker pays more than the fair price, and the two can point to different outcomes.

Value opportunity before kick-off Strong value

1 Middlesbrough @ 1.95
Bookmaker Matchbook
Price observed
Rule would have fired (backtest) @ 1.95 (Matchbook) · backtest — reconstructed afterwards
Market 1X2 (match result)
Availability and exact price varied by country and over time.
Fair price 1.89
Matchbook 1.95
Confidence: High
Value-bet result Won · 1 +0.95u

Market discrepancy: before kick-off, Middlesbrough (1) was priced at 1.95 by a soft bookmaker, above the fair price of 1.89 — a +3.1% gap. An observation about the price, not an instruction to bet.

A single result where a bookmaker pays above the fair price — separate from the main prediction below.

Most likely result

1/2 Home or away 76%

When no single result is likely enough, our pick covers the two most probable outcomes (double chance).

1X2
Sharp, recorded50%24%26%
Other estimates
Our model52%27%21%

Sharp, recorded = Pinnacle when we logged the match (it can be days old). Our model = our own estimate, which on average predicts worse than the market.

Fair odds of the pick (as recorded) 1.31
Sharp odds recorded for this prediction (Pinnacle) 1.93 / 3.89 / 3.60
Market Gap +3.1%
Confidence High
Model agreement High

Confidence reflects only the sharp probability of the selection: high from 50%, medium from 40%, low below. It says how likely the result is, not how big the price gap is. Model agreement shows how close our own model is to the sharp market on this selection — when it is Low, the market and our model disagree, so treat the flag with more caution.

Prediction result Won · 1

Value lifecycle Settled

Would have been flagged (backtest) ·
1 Middlesbrough · soft 1.95 (Matchbook) · fair 1.89 · edge +3.1%
Opening sharp
1.93
At close
1.94 · CLV +0.4%
Result
Won +0.95u Backtest

“Detected” is the moment the flag was first shown on the site and written to our ledger (recorded live since 26 September 2026). For earlier matches the flag was reconstructed afterwards from the prices we had stored, and the time shown is when the rule would have fired: a backtest, not a live record. When the gap closes, we say so instead of pretending the value is still there.

Match context

The last 4 head-to-head meetings we tracked split 2–2–0 (Middlesbrough wins – draws – Norwich wins).

Middlesbrough scored 1.6 and conceded 1.2 across their last 5 matches in our results database; Norwich scored 2.2 and conceded 1 in 5.

The sharp market price on Middlesbrough has barely moved since opening (1.93 to 1.94) — no significant new information has repriced this match.

These figures come from our own tracked results and odds snapshots for this fixture — not from a generic stats feed.

Market-relevant trends

Norwich has won its last 2 matches.
No value Already reflected in the fair price — no value on Norwich here.

We show the trend and whether it is already in the price. Most sites show the streak and let you assume you should bet it.

Why this price?

Middlesbrough
L W D W W
avg 1.6 scored · 1.2 conceded (last 5)
Norwich
W W L W W
avg 2.2 scored · 1 conceded (last 5)
Recent head-to-head
31 Jan 2026 Middlesbrough 1–0 Norwich
23 Aug 2025 Norwich 1–2 Middlesbrough
26 Apr 2025 Middlesbrough 0–0 Norwich
27 Oct 2024 Norwich 3–3 Middlesbrough

Recent form and head-to-head from our settled results — context behind the fair price. The price itself comes from the sharp market, not from these alone.

Public, timestamped record

Logged before kick-off
Prediction record
Pick 1/2 · Home or away
Odds recorded for the prediction 1.26
Closing odds 1.27
Prediction CLV -1.2%
Result Won
Value-bet record

Backtest: reconstructed on 26 September 2026 by applying today’s rule to the prices stored before kick-off. It was not shown in this form at the time; its seal was created at the reconstruction, which for matches already played was after the match.

Value selection 1 · Middlesbrough
Odds when the rule would have fired (reconstructed) 1.95
Fair odds 1.89
Closing odds 1.94
Value CLV +0.4%
Profit (units) +0.95
Result Won
Prediction hash — integrity fingerprint ae732309f76fe2fc

This hash fingerprints the prediction as recorded: teams, kick-off time, our model probabilities, the Pinnacle prices recorded for it (at logging or, if there were none, the first quoted after logging and before kick-off, which can be written in after the match) and the log time. A later edit to any of them would change it (a rescheduled kick-off changes it too). It does not cover closing prices, the result or the value-bet record above; value flags recorded live have their own seal in the public record. Verify in the public record →

Every day a snapshot of the full public record is published to a public Git repository and timestamped with OpenTimestamps. Timestamped snapshots are never overwritten and the Git history shows any difference, so a later change to a past row is visible by comparing two snapshots. The corrections file lists the corrections we announced. Verify on the public log →

Since 20 June 2026 the public record is snapshotted daily (07:40 Bucharest time: 04:40 UTC in summer time, 05:40 UTC in winter) to an external log. A prediction is externally timestamped before kick-off only if it was in a snapshot taken before the match; predictions logged on match day, or whose Pinnacle price was added after logging, first appear there after kick-off. Value flags have been recorded live only since 26 September 2026; earlier value flags were reconstructed on that date.

Methodology

The fair price comes from the sharp market itself: we strip the margin from Pinnacle-style odds — the most accurate public predictor in existence — and use our calibrated Elo + form model as a cross-check and as the fallback where no sharp price exists. Value is flagged only where a softer bookmaker prices a selection above that fair price, never on long shots (implied probability under 30%), and never beyond a plausible band. Most of the time there is no value — and we say so.

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