The European Tour is back on the darting scene this weekend as the European Matchplay gets played out. As well as being a tournament which is part of the qualification route to the European Championship, this is the final event before the World Matchplay field is finalised.
Luke Humphries will be at both tournaments but he is the one defending the title this week but the weekend might be more about who could and who might not make it through to Blackpool. It makes for an exciting week.
Recent Winners
2022 – Luke Humphries
2019 – Joe Cullen
2018 – Michael van Gerwen
2017 – Michael van Gerwen
2016 – James Wade
2015 – Michael van Gerwen
The Format
The format for these tournaments remains the same as before, which means that the qualifiers meet each other over the course of the play on Friday before the last 32 of the tournament is played over two sessions of action on Saturday, with the last 16 on Sunday afternoon and the quarter finals on Sunday night. They are all the best-of-11 legs with the semi-finals also on Sunday evening. They are the best-of-13 and then the final in the same session is the best-of-15 legs. The draw has been pre-determined and is played in a straight knockout format.
Top Half
It is the number two seed who is the leading one in the top half this weekend which means that Dirk van Duijvenbode is the player seeded to reach the final from this part of the draw. If the draw goes with the numbers then it is Dave Chisnall who he will come up against in the semi-final but the players looking to stop that from happening among the seeded ones are Dimitri Van den Bergh, Josh Rock, the world champion Michael Smith, former winner Joe Cullen, Ryan Searle and the three-time previous champion Michael van Gerwen.
We have seen throughout the European Tour events that the level of qualifiers have been of a high quality and that is the case this weekend too. Among the unseeded players in the top half of the draw are Dutch legend Raymond van Barneveld, former Grand Slam champion Jose de Sousa, World Championship semi-finalist Gabriel Clemens, Ryan Joyce, Kim Huybrechts, who is clinging onto a World Matchplay spot, Brendan Dolan and the UK Open champion Andrew Gilding.
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Bottom Half
This is there the number one seed and defending champion Luke Humphries will attempt to keep hold of the title from. He is obviously seeded to meet the final but might need to get the better of Damon Heta in the last four if he lives up to his ranking this week. The other six seeds in the top half of the draw are the former world champion Rob Cross, former Premier League winner Jonny Clayton, Martin Schindler, former UK Open champions Nathan Aspinall and Danny Noppert and the reigning European champion Ross Smith.
There is no shortage of household names among the qualifiers for the competition this week with James Wade probably the biggest of them as he goes in search of a morale boosting win ahead of a trip to his favourite tournament in Blackpool. Simon Whitlock and Stephen Bunting have both graced world finals and are in this half of the draw. Christian Kist is another former world finalist with Martin Lukeman, Callan Rydz and Luke Woodhouse potentially dangerous draws for some.
Betting
This might be a trickier weekend to bet on with a number of players having had a few weeks off. That might mean we get a few surprises as we go along, although the big names might already be starting their preparation for Blackpool in a couple of weeks. The first thing we need to weigh up when betting on these events is which half looks the easiest and with both Michael Smith and Michael van Gerwen in the top half of the draw attention quickly turns to the bottom for an each way bet.
The player I like this weekend is Nathan Aspinall. He generally goes well fresh but he is someone who practices regularly anyway so I expect him to be on the money this week. Although Luke Humphries is in his quarter I think ‘The Asp’ will be relatively happy with his draw. He has already made the final of a European Tour event this term and might be motivated by not getting to play for England at the World Cup. At his best Aspinall can beat anyone in this half and 20/1 is a fair enough price to see if he can do that this week.
Tips
Back N.Aspinall to win European Matchplay (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 21.00 with William Hill (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
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