Statistics: If the season is early, maybe only 5 games played, and both teams have the same statistics in those few games this season, also consider statistics from the last season. Or, even better, before the new season starts, rank the teams based on how you think they will perform this season and take that into account if they have played only a few games this season. Even a bad team can play 5 games with really good statistics, and a good team can play 5 games with really bad statistics, but the long season should reveal their true quality. So, early in the season, statistics from only a few games can sometimes be misleading. Towards the end of the season, team key statistics quite accurately reflect the real quality of teams. That's also when everybody else knows the team's quality and level, so there's not so much advantage in making predictions.