Our darts tipster James Punt hit the bullseye last week with his 20/1 pick Mensur Suljovic winning in Austria. His main selection MVG lost in the final, so it was a seriously good display of tipping from the TXMarkets man. This weekend the action comes from Mannheim in Germany. Check out James Punt’s 2019 European Darts Matchplay tips below…

2019  European Darts Matchplay: Hat Trick Bid For MVG

Last weeks Austrian Darts Championship saw a few rusty players underperform and maybe a bit of tiredness in the games of the World Series players. MVG made the final but let a 6-3 lead slip against Mensur Suljovic and he lost another final.

This is becoming more common. It may well just have been a bit of tiredness after three weeks on the road in Australia and New Zealand. Or he may just be losing a bit of his edge. That super confidence that comes from win after win after win. He is now going into finals with a little more doubt in his mind.

Having said that, he played very well for most of the tournament, averaging 98 and very nearly 50% checkout rate. He has won twelve of his last thirteen matches and remains the form player going into this tournament. He is in the 1st quarter as usual but he finds himself in this weeks Quarter of Death. Van Gerwen has won this tournament for three of its four years and he goes for three in a row this weekend.

Suljovic and Ratajski In Form

There are two other players coming here in great nick, last week’s 20/1 winner Mensur Suljovic and Krzysztof Ratajski. Both have won nine of their last ten matches. The Pole has two recent players championships while the Austrian is fresh from winning in his home city last week.  The three players I wanted to back, all in the same quarter.

Suljovic is playing well and even when he losses he is making it hard for his opponents. You have to go back 50 matches to see a match where he was beaten by more than 2 legs. That is quite remarkable.

Strong 2nd Quarter

The 2nd quarter has Daryl Gurney, Rob Cross, Dave Chisnall and Ricky Evans as the four seeds. Gurney went out in the 2nd round last week, beaten by an impressive performance from Rowby-John Rodriguez. It was a high quality game and Gurney can consider himself a bit unlucky to face Rodriguez when he was playing his A game, which is very good when it appears.

Daryl averaged 101 but lost 4-6. Four from twelve on his doubles didn’t help but sometimes the other guy just plays a blinder. Gurney faces the winner of the John Henderson vs. Ryan Joyce match which will be a tricky opener for him.

Rob Cross decided to take last weekend off to rest up after playing in those long haul World Series matches. He is learning to manage his schedule to include time out to spend at home and he can afford to do so, so why not? He has won seven of his last ten and won the World Matchplay at the end of July.

2019  European Darts Matchplay: Chizzy Flattering To Deceive

Dave Chisnall has also won seven of his last ten but his performance, or lack of, when losing 3-6 to Ricky Evans was dreadful. He won the Danish Open in June but since then he has failed to string any long runs together.

Chizzy is still playing some really good stuff but occasionally his game just goes missing and that makes winning titles very hard. He is a two time runner up in this event and he will probably find somebody too good or throw in one of his poor matches.

Evans got to the quarter final in Austria last weekend but was hammered 0-6 in a matter of minutes by MVG. At least his run of losses has ended and he has won five of his last seven. It’s hard to see him winning a title just yet however.

2019  European Darts Matchplay: 3rd Quarter Wide Open

The third quarter looks more open With Ian White, Nathan Aspinall, Jonny Clayton and James Wade the seeded players. White remains in good form with seven wins from ten and he played well last week but lost out to the home favourite, Mensur Suljovic 4-6 in the quarter final. He looks to have a decent draw as the other three seeds in his quarter are not in great form, all losing five of their last ten matches.

The 4th quarter has Peter Wright, Joe Cullen, Gerwyn Price and Glen Durrant as the four seeds. Wright was a conundrum once again last week. Every one of his four matches went to a deciding leg. He eventually lost 6-7 to MVG in the semi-final, averaging 103. He was impressive when managing to beat Van den Bergh 6-5 in the second round as Dimitri was excellent.

Snakebite then was distinctly average when beating Cullen and Rodriguez 6-5. He hit no less than nineteen 180’s over his four matches, helped by the number of legs he played obviously, but his form is very hard to fathom.

Price’s Roar Could Return After Tonsilitis

Cullen remains in indifferent form with five wins from ten and he doesn’t look in great nick. Gerwyn Price was rusty last weekend. He was hospitalised with tonsillitis over the August break which won’t have helped. He hasn’t been at his best for a while now but neither is he far away from it.

Another player who is hard to call at present but he is just losing too many matches to fancy him for the title. His draw is decent however and odds of 23.00 are not unreasonable.

Glen Durrant has had an extended break and hasn’t played competitively for the best part of five weeks. He was in good form before the break, reaching the semi-final in Blackpool and the quarter final of the last players championship before the summer break.

Duzza might just be a bit rusty based on what we saw last week but if he wins his 2nd round match he might well have a decent run. He may well face Ross Smith in the 2nd round and that will be a tough opening match for Durrant after a long lay off.

2019  European Darts Matchplay: Lively Outsiders

Of the unseeded players we have a few interesting contenders. Michael Smith had to qualify for this event as his Euro Tour form has been poor. He has just £7000 and sits at number 40 in the Euro Tour OOM. Only the top 32 qualify for the big final at the end of November. He is missing the next event to attend a family birthday so he needs a decent run.

Bully Boy played in Austrian last week and was hugely unimpressive. He has won just two matches on the Euro Tour this season. Does he really want to do it anymore? Is he going the way of the ‘the boss’, Gary Anderson, and thinking of giving it all a miss? He certainly looked far from interested last weekend, losing 2-6 to Cameron Menzies with an average of just 81. Outside the Euro Tour he is up to number five in the world so it suggests that he just isn’t very motivated for this tour anymore. He also faces the prospect of playing MVG in the 2nd round if he can beat Steve Lennon, and that is not a given.

Clemens’ Time?

Gabriel Clemens is a player I like very much. He is going places and once he has been full time for a while his game will move up a level or two. He reached the final of the German Masters World Series event in July, beating Barney, Cross and Suljovic before losing 6-8 to Peter Wright in the final.

Clemens has reached two players championship finals this season and a win of some description can’t be far away. He will play a local qualifier in the first round and if he wins that, Ian White in the second round. If he could beat White, which wouldn’t be easy, things don’t look to bad draw wise.

Keegan Brown is enjoying a good Euro Tour, up to 11th on the OOM. He has reached the semi-final of the German Darts Championship and the Czech Open. He has won seven of his last ten matches and could have another good run this weekend. The problem is that ultimately, he isn’t great at winning titles. He was the World Youth Champion in 2014 but since then he has won one players championship title in 2015. He has also been drawn in the Quarter of Death which rules him out.

2019  European Darts Matchplay: Outright selections

It is annoying when you have shortlisted three players and they all get drawn in the same quarter of the draw. Despite losing in last weekends final, Michael Van Gerwen is the player in the best form and has a habit of winning this title. With current form of twelve wins from thirteen matches and a tournament record of three wins from four he is the obvious selection. He is always of interest at odds against in these events and he demands serious consideration.

The problem is that the man who beat him last week, Mensur Suljovic, is due to meet him in the third round. Suljovic is very hard to beat at the moment and in a first to six match MVG is vulnerable. Even if he gets past Suljovic he may well then face the talented and in-form Ratajski. He is 2-0 vs. The Polish Eagle but that is no guarantee of another win. That is all before he gets to a semi-final so he has his work cut out.

Suljovic makes more appeal at the odds. While MVG is a 2.25 shot to win the title, Suljovic is 23.00. He has won nine of his last ten and was runner up to MVG in this in 2017. The fact that he proving so hard to beat and in great form does make him an attractive proposition despite being in the hardest part of the draw.

2019  European Darts Matchplay: 1 point e/w Mensur Suljovic to win @ 23.00 with Betfair, Paddy Power, Betfred

I was hoping for even bigger odds for Clemens but his run to the final in the German Masters has tipped the bookies off. His draw is ok if he can get past White. Back on home soil you never know. His talent is there and he is worth a small bet.

2019  European Darts Matchplay: 0.5 point e/w Gabriel Clemens to win @ 67.00 with Betfair, Paddy Power, Betfred, Skybet

There really isn’t anything else that makes any great appeal but there will be plenty of individual matches to get stuck into over the weekend and perhaps a contender will emerge in the opening rounds.

Daily updates will be posted on the TXODDS app.

-JamesPunt