2021 Gibraltar Darts Trophy Preview

The second and final Euro Tour event is the 2021 Gibraltar Darts Trophy. In the three weeks since the Hungarian Darts Trophy We have seen Scotland win the World Cup and Michael van Gerwen winning his first title of the year at last weekend’s Nordic Darts Masters. We Also saw Gerwyn Price withdraw from the same tournament, suffering with Tennis elbow.

2021 Gibraltar Darts Trophy: First Quarter

Joe Cullen remains the number one seed and he sits at the top of the draw, joined in this quarter by Nathan Aspinall, James Wade and Devon Petersen. James Wade is the only one in decent form, winning seven of his last ten matches. Petersen and Aspinall have lost six of their last ten and Cullen five. Of the seeded players here, Wade looks the most likely to progress to the semi-final.

Of the unseeded players there is Martijn Kleermaker who has hit some form. He faces the underrated Joe Murnan for the chance to play the slightly out of form Joe Cullen in the second round. There is a bit of an opening there. The same can be said for the Ritchie Edhouse vs. Steve Beaton match. Edhouse has really upped his game this season, increasing his seasonal average by 4 points and reaching three pro tour quarter finals. Steve Beaton has lost his last five matches and if Edhouse gets through he faces an out of form Nathan Aspinall and he has the chance to progress.

World Cup Winner

World Cup winner John Henderson faces Boris Krčmar and while it will be interesting to see how winning the World Cup impacts on Henderson’s form it is hard to fancy either against James Wade. The same can’t be said about the final unseeded players. Luke Humphries carried our hopes all the way to the semi-final in Budapest and he is up against the German number one, Gabriel Clemens. Both are in good form, very good form for Humphries who has won eight of his last ten matches. The winner faces the out of form Devon Petersen so this is a good draw for the winner of that first round match.

Second Quarter

Nordic Darts Masters winner MVG tops this quarter, joined by Danny Noppert, Gerwyn Price and Damon Heta. This is a hot quarter with world number 1 and Hungarian Darts Trophy Gerwyn Price, and world number 3 Michael van Gerwen. Noppert and Heta are not at the top of their game, but both are dangerous opponents. There must be question marks about Price’s fitness. He returned to Wales after winning his first-round match last weekend, to get a Cortisone injection in his elbow. He has had this problem twice before and recovered quickly after the treatment.

It must be said that cortisone injections are not universally recommended as a treatment. It does give short term relief for a month or two, but often the problem flares up again. The best treatment is physiotherapy but that is a long-term program taking many months and with a very bust few months ahead for darts, Price doesn’t have that luxury. If this is an injury that is regularly reoccurring, Price has a serious problem in the medium to long run.

Emotional MVG

Van Gerwen was reduced to tears after winning the Nordic Darts Masters and it will be fascinating to see what difference finally getting that win will make. Surely it will be a positive one and hopefully we get a fully operational Price playing MVG for a place in the semi-final.

Of the unseeded players, Rob Cross is the interesting one. He is making progress, his seasonal average is up 3 points but his win rate of 61% isn’t good enough to be winning tournaments. He will face MVG in the second round if he can beat East European qualifier Patrik Kovács. That would be a great match and a good test for Van Gerwen.

Picking the winner of this quarter looks very difficult. If Price is fully fit we should/could see a mouth watering MVG vs. Price quarter final.

2021 Gibraltar Darts Trophy: Third Quarter

Another quarter laden with quality players. Jose de Sousa, Mensur Suljovic, Jonny Clayton and Krzysztof Ratajski are the four seeds and whoever gets through to the semi-final will have to had played well. De Sousa hasn’t been at the top of his game lately. He was poor when losing to Daryl Gurney at the World Cup and he has gone six matches without a 95 plus average. That is hardly a drought, but it is well down on his seasonal average of 98.8.

Suljovic is on the comeback trail after four months off. He lost his first-round match in Hungary to William Borland 5-6 having been 1-5 down. He was more like his old self at the World Cup, leading Austria all the way to the final. The Gentle averaged 108 when beating Kim Huybrechts 4-1 and 110 when beating James Wade by the same margin in the semi-final. He was poor in the final with two sub 90 averages but still beat John Henderson and took Peter Wright to a deciding leg. There was enough to hint that Suljovic is worth consideration as an outsider this weekend. His match fitness must be questioned after such a long break and maybe that explains his poor performance in the World Cup final.

Top Player

Jonny Clayton has been one of the top players for a year now and he was back to his best in Copenhagen last weekend, losing to MVG in the semi-final, but his tournament average of 102.7 should not go unnoticed. He is a contender for anything he plays in, and this tournament is no exception. He has a good record vs. De Sousa but he would find Ratajski or Suljovic a bigger challenge.

Ratajski is scoring well but he just doesn’t win as many matches as he should. He must be getting frustrated and the fact that he has now lost five matches in a row doesn’t foster much confidence in the defending champion. His win rate in 2018 was 76% but that has dropped to 57% this year, despite his seasonal average rising from 94.3 in 2018 to 97.4 in 2021.

2021 Gibraltar Darts Trophy: Two Live Outsiders

The unseeded players in this quarter are headed by Martin Schindler and Ryan Searle. Two players who I fancied as live outsiders and of course, they get drawn against each other in the first round. Martin Schindler. The diminutive German dropped off the radar in the last year or two having been one of the bright young things of German darts, along with Max Hopp. Both have been overtaken by Gabriel Clemens as the German number 1 but unlike Hopp, Schindler looks to be on the way back.

His seasonal average is up five points to 94.3 and he has won eight of his last ten matches. Schindler won the German Super League in April and more recently reached the quarter final of both PC22 & 23 last month. He played 13 matches in that block of tournaments and only lost three, two to Peter Wright and on to Gerwyn Price. He had wins over Michael Smith, Krzysztof Ratajski, Joe Murnan and Martijn Kleermaker, all playing this weekend.

Searle On Song

Ryan Searle is in great form having won PC22 last month. That was a win that was coming after he had been runner up in PC15 and semi-finalist in PC18. That win was his second pro tour title in two years and the next step for his career is a stage win and these euro tour events give Searle a great chance to make that step.

He has been practicing with Gary Anderson lately and it seems to be doing him more good than it is for Anderson. Searle has won eleven of his last twelve matches and he must be on anyone’s shortlist this weekend. The winner will face Ratajski and if they get past him, a very likely meeting with The Ferret. That’s a tough draw.

Fourth Quarter

Peter Wright will be the favourite to come through this quarter, but he has lost four of his last ten matches after a very good spell of form. That saw him win PC20 in July, winning the World Matchplay in September, runner up in PC22 and winning PC23 last month. That kind of form was always going to be hard to sustain, but he has just dropped off a little bit.

The other Seeds are Brendan Dolan, Michael Smith, runner up in the Hungarian Darts Trophy and former winner of this title, and the out of form Dirk van Duijvenbode. Smith and Dolan have both won seven of their last ten matches and both have a win rate of 72% in 2021. Neither has a great record vs. Wright but neither can be dismissed as potential quarter winners.

2021 Gibraltar Darts Trophy: Ante Post Selections

We have four former tournament winners in the field this weekend, Michael van Gerwen is a three-time champion, with one each for James Wade, Michael Smith and Krzysztof Ratajski. MVG, Wade and Smith all come here having won seven of their last ten matches but MVG’s win last weekend will make him a popular choice to win this.

Gerwyn Price remains the best player in the world and can be fancied to add to his Hungarian Darts Trophy win. The fact that he and MVG are in the same quarter means that one will not reach the semi-final and there is a concern over Price’s fitness to play.

Luke Humphries has landed a decent draw. He is in the most open quarter, and he has very good H2H records with Clemens and Petersen and beat Wade 6-2 in Budapest the last time they met a few weeks ago. His first title is coming, and he should be backed once more.

Fitness Issues For Iceman

The second quarter looks to be between MVG and Price. Backing Price is taking it on trust that he is fit. It took Price 20 attempts before he beat MVG but since he did, their H2H record is 4-4. It is a toss up. Will Van Gerwen’s recent win be the monkey off his back, will wins start coming like London Buses, or Will Price repeat his form from Hungary and pick up another title? A week ago, this would be easy, Price would be the clear pick, but now? Price is 6.00 third favourite to win the title, MVG the 5.00 favourite. It really is a very hard call.

From the third quarter I like the look of Jonny Clayton. The 2021 Premier Leaguer winner (I may have mentioned that before) looked in great form in Copenhagen last weekend, averaging 102 across his three matches. He did lose to MVG of course but he remains one of the very best players in world darts and still underrated by the bookies. Ryan Searle makes some appeal at 67.00 as does Schindler at 151.00, but facing each other in round one is a pain.

Wright Fav For 4th Quarter

The final quarter sees Peter Wright as the favourite to come through. He is the 5.50 second favourite to lift the trophy. He will face the winner of Callan Rydz vs. local player Justin Hewitt and is not a gimme. Brenda Dolan or likely Merv King would await in the third round, again a potentially tough match. Wright has looked a little short of his best of late and doesn’t make much appeal at the odds.

Michael Smith looks to have landed another decent draw. He was runner up in Hungary and his seasonal win rate is 72% and that is a career high. He has won here before, and his odds are becoming more realistic for a player who struggles to win titles. This draw gives him a decent chance for another good run.

2021 Gibraltar Darts Trophy Tip: 1 point Luke Humphries to win @ 34.00 Betfair, Skybet

1 point Michael Smith to win the 2021 Gibraltar Darts Trophy @ 26.00 with Hills, Betfair

1 point Jonny Clayton to win the 2021 Gibraltar Darts Trophy @ 13.00 with Hills, Skybet, Betfair

2021 Gibraltar Darts Trophy Tip: 0.5 point Ryan Searle to win @ 67.00 generally available

2021 Gibraltar Darts Trophy Tip: 0.5 point Martin Schindler to win @ 151.00 with Betfair, Ladbrokes

Match betting coverage might be a bit disrupted this weekend, but I will cover any interesting first round matches later today and as many as time allows on Saturday and Sunday.

-JamesPunt