The opening night of the European Championship sees the first round of the tournament being played out in the top half of the draw as eight matches take place across the evening in Dortmund on Thursday.
The night is headlined by the number one seed Martin Schindler who will look to make progress on home soil while the likes of Michael van Gerwen, Gary Anderson and Michael Smith offer up a decent supporting cast.
First Four Matches
The tournament gets underway with the young star Gian van Veen looking to make it into the second round when he takes on a Ritchie Edhouse who has qualified for most of the TV events only without really capitalising on them so far. When they are done Gerwyn Price will look to make progress at the expense of Daryl Gurney before the 2022 winner Ross Smith will aim to protect as much of his first prize from two years ago when he takes on Luke Woodhouse. The first half of the evening concludes with one of the standout matches as Stephen Bunting faces Gary Anderson for a spot in round two.
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Later Four Matches
Top quality matches keep on coming for the remainder of the evening with the second half of the session getting underway with Ryan Searle looking for a first TV title this weekend when he takes on Raymond van Barneveld for whom a big weekend could see him going into the World Championship as a stronger seed. The former winner Michael van Gerwen will then be on stage to meet the home star Gabriel Clemens before the other German favourite will be on stage when the number one seed Martin Schindler plays Dirk van Duijvenbode. The evening is rounded off by the pick of the first round matches as Dave Chisnall faces Michael Smith.
Betting
Regular readers will know that I’m not a huge fan of getting involved in these best of 11 sprints because one bad leg or a couple of missed doubles and your race can be run but there is going to be a lot of pressure on Martin Schindler here not just because he is the home player but also because he is the number one seed and will be expected to go deep into the tournament. That might just be a perfect situation for Dirk van Duijvenbode, who as the last man into the draw can play with a touch of freedom.
Van Duijvenbode is starting to show the sort of form which took him into the top 10 in the world rankings not so long ago after injury has set him back for a year or so. He reached the semi-final of the last Players Championship event recently and he was a quarter finalist in a European Tour event not too long ago. We know the Dutchman has plenty of scoring power and if he can be crisp on his doubles, or the pressure of the situation impacts Schindler on his, then DvD could well power his way to the second round.
Tips
Back D.van Duijvenbode to beat M.Schindler for a 3/10 stake at 2.05 with Unibet
