The busy period of darts which will eventually culminate in the World Championship at the end of the year begins with the Champions League of Darts which takes place in Brighton this weekend and features the best eight players in the world.
Mensur Suljovic will defend a TV title for the first time and he will look to hold off some of the best players ever to play the game in a format that is long enough to deliver some good darts but not take away the possibility of an upset.
Recent Winners
2017 – Mensur Suljovic
2016 – Phil Taylor
The Format
The eight players are split into two groups of four in the first round which is round robin. Everyone plays the other three men in their group over the best of 19 legs on Saturday afternoon, evening and Sunday afternoon. The top two in each group progress to the semi-finals on Sunday evening. They are the best of 21 legs, as is the final which takes place in the same session.
Group A
World number one and tournament favourite Michael van Gerwen is up in Group A. This looks like an absolute blockbuster of a group as it also contains the World Matchplay winner Gary Anderson as well as the World Grand Prix champion Daryl Gurney. If that was not enough quality in the one group there is also the heavy scoring Dave Chisnall so we are set for fireworks in this section.
Group B
The world champion Rob Cross makes his debut in the tournament in this group but just like the other section he will have it fairly tough as well. The world number two Peter Wright is seeded to join Cross in the semi-final but that sort of thing won’t worry Mensur Suljovic. The defending champion came from nowhere to win this last year and he’s a much better player now. Simon Whitlock will be out to show he isn’t making up the numbers after a positive weekend on the European Tour last week.
[the_ad_group id=”3624″]
Betting
The value in this tournament lies with the defending champion Mensur Suljovic. I think he will come through his group and while he would face a tough semi-final you don’t get to the latter stages of tournaments like this one and expect an easy ride so he’ll know what is coming his way.
Suljovic has turned himself into a serial winner and we’ve seen more and more in recent times that the longer formats no longer concern him. He is one of the best players in the game right now and being the defending champion I’m expecting him to find a couple of extra degrees to his game that could make him tough to beat this weekend.
Tips
Back M.Suljovic to win Champions League of Darts (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 15.00 with BetVictor (1/3 1-2)
Back him here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2018
