After a high quality opening day despite the short format, the 16 men remaining in the European Championship will all have the chance to further impress on Saturday when the second round is played out over the course of two sessions of play.
We’ve left the best of 11 leg format behind and move to the best of 19 legs now which should see the players relax a bit more and produce their best so another fascinating day of tungsten tossing is in store.
Afternoon Session
The day begins with an Ashes battle as Kyle Anderson goes up against James Richardson before the number two seed Mensur Suljovic takes on Ian White in what is the match of the afternoon. Peter Wright then follows up his win over Justin Pipe on Friday with a tricky tie against the Spaniard, Cristo Reyes before James Wilson plays Mervyn King to finish off the afternoon.
Evening Session
The evening begins with a cracking looking match as former Lakeside champions Jelle Klaasen and Stephen Bunting meet before the big names come out to play. Phil Taylor goes up against Joe Cullen and then James Wade faces Max Hopp. The day concludes with the tournament favourite and defending champion Michael van Gerwen facing Gerwyn Price.
Betting
This is one of those cards where finding good bets isn’t easy. There were a couple of heavy favourites I was interested in taking on handicaps. James Wade should see off Max Hopp without too many problems but a 4.5 leg handicap is one too many for my liking while the price isn’t too encouraging on Kyle Anderson so I’ll go with just the one bet for Saturday and hope that Sunday yields more opportunities.
We’ve made plenty of money backing James Wilson over the last few months and we’re going to try and do the same thing again on Saturday when he faces Mervyn King. Wilson is a 4/5 favourite but having beaten King twice already this year there is an argument to be made that the Jammie Dodger should be a fair bit shorter than that.
Wilson was very impressive is dispatching Kim Huybrechts on Friday night and his scoring power combined with a good eye for the doubles should see him through on Saturday. Merv King did well to see off Devon Petersen on Friday but he is clearly battling with his game at the minute and Wilson can take advantage of that.
Tips
WON – Back J.Wilson to beat M.King for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Betfred
Back him here:
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