Drogheda United vs Bohemians: match statistics

Bohemians have a clear advantage in chance creation — averaging 16.25 shots and 6.75 on target away compared to the hosts' 10.33 shots and 3.67 on target, translating to an xG of 1.82 for the visitors versus 1.19 for the hosts. The visitors also display significantly better defensive metrics: Bohemians concede 0 goals on average away and have a 100% clean sheet rate on the road, while Drogheda concedes 0.67 goals at home, and in their last 5 matches the hosts have shipped 10 goals. Form backs up the gap — Drogheda have not won in their last 5 (0 wins, 2 draws, 3 losses), averaging 0.4 points per game, whereas Bohemians have 3 wins and 2 draws in the same period, averaging 2.2 points. Despite similar shot conversion rates (10% for the hosts vs 9% for the visitors), the superiority in shot volume and higher xG for Bohemians indicate a larger number of quality opportunities. Based on this, I predict an away win.

Seasonally Drogheda have BTTS at 50% and in the last 5 matches BTTS is 80%, while Bohemians have seasonal BTTS 0% but show 40% BTTS in the last 5. Drogheda conceded on average 2.0 goals in the last 5 matches (10 conceded), and Bohemians conceded 0.6 goals in the last 5 (3 conceded), indicating greater susceptibility of the home side to conceded goals. In chance creation Bohemians average 16.25 shots and 6.75 on target with xG 1.82, while Drogheda 10.75 shots and 5.0 on target with xG 1.28, so the visitors create more chances and have higher xG. Seasonally Bohemians scored 11 goals versus Drogheda 9, and the hosts have seasonally 11 conceded; therefore, combining the weaker home defence (2.0 in L5) and the visitors' xG advantage I assign a higher probability to both teams scoring; I propose BTTS "Yes" 65% vs "No" 35%.

Based on xG, the home side has xG_for 1.28 versus the away xG_against 0.86, yielding an expected ~1.07 goals for Drogheda, while the visitors have xG_for 1.82 versus xG_against_home 1.20 giving ~1.51 for Bohemians; the total is 2.58 expected goals. A Poisson distribution for a mean of 2.58 translates to roughly a 73% chance of Over 1.5 goals, ~48% for Over 2.5 goals and ~26% for Over 3.5 goals, so Over 1.5 is the strongest signal. Additionally, Drogheda have conceded 10 goals in their last 5 matches (2.0 per match), while Bohemians have scored 6 goals in their last 5 (1.2 per match) and have a low xG_against of 0.86, which increases the likelihood of at least 2 goals in the match. Although season-long Over 2.5 percentages are low (25% for both teams), the xG balance and the home side’s weaker defensive form make Over 1.5 (p=73%) the best and most justified option.

Bohemians present as the favourites: their xG is 1.82 versus Drogheda’s 1.28 and they average 16.25 shots per match compared to the hosts’ 10.75, while they have a 75% win rate this season versus 50% for Drogheda. The visitors haven’t conceded a goal this season (0.0 goals conceded on average, 100% clean sheets) and have a 60% win rate in their last 5 matches versus 0% for the hosts, which strongly supports a Bohemians victory after 90 minutes. At Half-Time the numbers show few goals: on average 0.5 goals for each side and 100% clean sheets at the break, suggesting frequent draws at the break (e.g. 0-0). At the same time the visitors often decide matches after the break (3 goals in minutes 61–75) and rarely concede in the second half, therefore the Half-Time/Full-Time scenario of draw at the break and visitors to win after the break (X/2) is most likely; as an alternative I consider the visitors leading at the break and winning (2/2).