The opening day of the European Championship sees the top half of the draw playing the first round of their tournament in the one session of action in Dortmund on Thursday evening. There is no easing our way into the event with some huge names on show.
Michael van Gerwen, Peter Wright, Michael Smith and the world champion Rob Cross will all take to the stage on what should be a cracking night of darts as the European Tour finale gets going in some style.
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First Four Matches
The show opens with a battle between a couple of injured parties as Steve West takes on Mervyn King to get the tournament underway. Ian White is then in action as he looks to take advantage of his lofty seeing when he goes up against Richard North. Simon Whitlock is then on the stage against Steve Beaton before Michael Smith takes us to the halfway stage of the evening when he meets Steve Lennon.
Later Four Matches
The last four matches on the night all look very juicy. They get going with the World Matchplay quarter finalist Joe Cullen going up against Jelle Klaasen before Michael van Gerwen begins his title defence when he faces the forgotten man who is back on the scene in Paul Nicholson. The world champion Rob Cross takes to the stage in the penultimate match of the evening when he plays the former Lakeside finalist Danny Noppert before the Champions League and World Grand Prix finalist Peter Wright closes out the show with a clash with Jermaine Wattimena.
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Betting
I’ll go with a couple of bets on the opening night which sees established seeded players who aren’t showing the best form at the minute going up against dangerous outsiders. The first of those is Joe Cullen who takes on Jelle Klaasen and I’m going with the Dutchman. Cullen had that wonderful run to the quarter final of the World Matchplay and then in his next tournament he made the semi-final in a European Tour event where he was blitzed by Michael van Grwen and he has barely won a match since. Klaasen has had a ridiculous time of things for the most part in 2018 but there have been signs in recent weeks that his form is beginning to return and I fancy him for this match. He’ll be buoyed not just by his return to form but also his 9-1 career record over Cullen and at 8/5 he’s hard to ignore.
Rob Cross is not convincing anyone on TV at the minute and he is another who will be under pressure to deliver but as a heavy favourite in a very short format it is not always the easiest thing to do. Cross lost two of his three matches in the Champions League and then bombed out to Steve Beaton in Dublin and now he takes on Danny Noppert who is very good and who made the semi-final of a European Tour event last month and then won a floor tournament where he thrashed Cross in the semi-final. The Dutchman is hitting form at the right time and is overpriced in this one.
Tips
Back J.Klaasen to beat J.Cullen for a 3/10 stake at 2.60 with Coral
Back him here:
Back D.Noppert to beat R.Cross for a 3/10 stake at 3.25 with Betfred
Back him here:
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