Football results Tuesday 20 October 2026: AI predictions review

Tuesday 20 October 2026 produced a heavy card across the Championship, the FA Cup, the Saudi Pro League and the UEFA Champions League, and the ten-model consensus finished the day with 13 of 25 correct. It is a middling return for a slate that leaned heavily on short-priced favourites, and the aggregate figure hides a sharper story: the models were at their most confident on several of the calls that went wrong.

The biggest surprise came at Old Trafford-adjacent proportions in name only — United of Manchester 2-6 Altrincham. Eight of ten models backed the home side at an average confidence of 46 per cent, with 1-0 the most common scoreline. The actual result was a four-goal away rout. Elsewhere, Al Diriyah's 1-0 win over Al Riyadh broke a 90 per cent consensus for the draw, and Fenerbahçe's 2-2 with Slavia Praha denied a unanimous panel.

A night of mixed fortunes for the ten-model consensus across four competitions.

Where the AI got it right

The Champions League favourites largely held up. Liverpool vs Villarreal prediction was a unanimous Liverpool call at 46 per cent average confidence with 2-1 the modal score; the match delivered a 4-3 home win. Not the exact scoreline, but the right side of the result.

Manchester City vs AEK Athens FC prediction was the day's most comfortable read. All ten models backed City at an average confidence of 62 per cent, the highest on the card, and the 5-1 scoreline more than justified it.

Paris Saint Germain vs Barcelona prediction drew a unanimous PSG verdict at 44 per cent average confidence, with 2-1 the most common score. The 4-2 result made it a clean hit on a fixture many would have treated as a coin flip.

AS Roma vs Slovan Bratislava prediction was unanimous for Roma at 50 per cent, and the 4-0 win was one of the day's more emphatic correct calls. In the Pro League, Al Taawon vs Al-Qadisiyah FC prediction saw all ten models on the away side at 59 per cent average confidence, the highest on the Saudi card, and a 0-1 result delivered.

Where it got it wrong

The misses were not confined to low-confidence picks. Wolves were backed by 100 per cent of models to beat Portsmouth in the Championship, at an average confidence of 48 per cent with 2-1 the modal score. The match finished 1-1.

United of Manchester 2-6 Altrincham stands out as the day's worst call by margin. Eight of ten models expected a home win, the most common score was 1-0, and the average confidence sat at 46 per cent. The actual scoreline was a six-goal away statement.

Al Diriyah 1-0 Al Riyadh is the other flag. Nine of ten models called the draw, 1-1 was the modal score, and average confidence was 36 per cent — the lowest of any miss, but the consensus was near-total. Fenerbahçe 2-2 Slavia Praha denied a unanimous panel that had backed the home side at 51 per cent with 2-0 the most common score. FC Porto 0-1 PSV Eindhoven went against another unanimous Porto call at 42 per cent, with 1-0 the modal prediction.

In the FA Cup, the draws did the damage. Worcester City 1-0 Chorley went against a 70 per cent draw consensus at 37 per cent average confidence. Alvechurch 4-0 Spalding United broke a 70 per cent draw call at 40 per cent. Anstey Nomads 0-3 Macclesfield broke a 60 per cent draw call at 38 per cent. Cray Wanderers 2-2 Bedford Town went against a 70 per cent Cray win at 39 per cent. Gloucester City 0-2 Barrow and Harrogate Town 3-1 Bury were also misses, the latter against a 70 per cent Bury consensus at 43 per cent. VfB Stuttgart 1-1 Atletico Madrid rounded out the errors, denying a 50 per cent Stuttgart call at 42 per cent.

Models of the day

Gemini 3.8 Flash led the field with 18 of 25 correct, three clear of the consensus and the only model to reach the high teens. Claude Sonnet 5 was second on 15 of 25, with Grok 4.6 and GLM 5.3 tied on 14. Kimi K3 matched the consensus exactly at 13, while GPT-5.6 Luna (12) and MiMo V2.5 Pro (11) sat below it.

The bottom of the table was shared. Mistral Medium 3.5 managed 10 of 25, and DeepSeek V4 Pro and Qwen 3.8 Max finished joint-worst on 9 of 25 — four behind the consensus and nine behind the leader. On a day when the panel's confidence was often misplaced, the spread between best and worst was nine correct calls.

Full results

• Championship: Wolves 1–1 Portsmouth — consensus Wolves win (100%) WRONG
• FA Cup: Yeovil Town 5–2 Leatherhead — consensus Yeovil Town win (60%) RIGHT
• FA Cup: Worcester City 1–0 Chorley — consensus draw (70%) WRONG
• FA Cup: Tadley Calleva 0–2 Aldershot Town — consensus Aldershot Town win (50%) RIGHT
• FA Cup: Stafford Rangers 5–0 Gateshead — consensus Stafford Rangers win (50%) RIGHT
• FA Cup: Alvechurch 4–0 Spalding United — consensus draw (70%) WRONG
• FA Cup: Anstey Nomads 0–3 Macclesfield — consensus draw (60%) WRONG
• FA Cup: Cray Wanderers 2–2 Bedford Town — consensus Cray Wanderers win (70%) WRONG
• FA Cup: United of Manchester 2–6 Altrincham — consensus United of Manchester win (80%) WRONG
• FA Cup: Forest Green 5–0 Chesham United — consensus Forest Green win (50%) RIGHT
• FA Cup: Gloucester City 0–2 Barrow — consensus Gloucester City win (60%) WRONG
• FA Cup: Harrogate Town 3–1 Bury — consensus Bury win (70%) WRONG
• Pro League: Al Diriyah 1–0 Al Riyadh — consensus draw (90%) WRONG
• Pro League: Al Taawon 0–1 Al-Qadisiyah FC — consensus Al-Qadisiyah FC win (100%) RIGHT
• Pro League: Al-Nassr 1–0 NEOM — consensus Al-Nassr win (100%) RIGHT
• Pro League: Al-Ettifaq 1–4 Al-Ittihad FC — consensus Al-Ittihad FC win (100%) RIGHT
• UEFA Champions League: Sabah FA 1–2 Borussia Dortmund — consensus Borussia Dortmund win (90%) RIGHT
• UEFA Champions League: Fenerbahçe 2–2 Slavia Praha — consensus Fenerbahçe win (100%) WRONG
• UEFA Champions League: AS Roma 4–0 Slovan Bratislava — consensus AS Roma win (100%) RIGHT
• UEFA Champions League: FC Porto 0–1 PSV Eindhoven — consensus FC Porto win (100%) WRONG
• UEFA Champions League: Liverpool 4–3 Villarreal — consensus Liverpool win (100%) RIGHT
• UEFA Champions League: Manchester City 5–1 AEK Athens FC — consensus Manchester City win (100%) RIGHT
• UEFA Champions League: Napoli 4–3 Bodo/Glimt — consensus Napoli win (80%) RIGHT
• UEFA Champions League: Paris Saint Germain 4–2 Barcelona — consensus Paris Saint Germain win (100%) RIGHT
• UEFA Champions League: VfB Stuttgart 1–1 Atletico Madrid — consensus VfB Stuttgart win (50%) WRONG

The panel returns to work with a fresh card, and the models will be looking to convert the high-confidence calls that went astray on Tuesday. The full set of verdicts for the next round of fixtures is available on the today's football predictions page.

Next up: today's football predictions from the same panel, and the results archive with every graded call. Forecasts are informational only.