The European Championship of darts gets underway on Thursday, October 26th and will draw to a rapid conclusion on October 29th. So it’s a short burst of action at the oche with the event being hosted in Belgium. This is a tournament for the top players (based on prize money) from the dozen European Tour events that have been held this year.
This is a 32 man field and heading up the tournament’s field is Michael van Gerwen is back to try and defend his title one more time having won it for the last three years running. Between MVG and Phil Taylor they have combined to win seven of the nine previous editions of the European Championships.
However, Taylor isn’t back in the field this year and that’s because in a dialled back season he didn’t compete in the twelve European Tour events to get to Championships and neither will some other big names be at the European Championships either like Gary Anderson, Adrian Lewis and Raymond van Barneveld because of either not playing the events or not having done well enough in them.
Can MVG get back to winning ways?
So the field is a little weaker than it could be and that should favour Michael van Gerwen who actually needs a win after some below-par tournament results. He was taken out of the World Matchplay by Phil Taylor, couldn’t get out of the group stage in the Champions League and was dumped out of the first round of the World Grand Prix. He does, of course, have the track record at this event, which again, importantly, isn’t boasting the strongest field. He won half of the twelve European Tour events this season as well.
Peter the Wright man?
Scotland’s Peter Wright has had a terrific season in the European Tour events, winning five of them and therefore he should be a contender at 4/1 with bet365 for this event. Snakebite won his first major title in collecting the Players Championship this year. He’s carried some good form throughout the season and goes as the second seed which means he’d avoid Van Gerwen until the final if they both make it through.
Betting Tip
There is value in Wright making a run at this. He has a less competitive draw than Van Gerwen does and the signs that Mighty Mike has taken his eye off the ball a bit towards the end of the season have been there. Snakebite won’t need any winding up and has already shown he can better MVG when he took him out at the German Darts Championships on the European Tour.