2023 European Championship Sunday Preview

Five winners from eight bets yesterday, not a bad return at all for James Punt. We go again this afternoon and we still have two outright bets alive and kicking with Luke Humphries and Chris Dobey. Check out his 2023 European Championship Sunday preview below.

Chris Dobey vs. Peter Wright

Chris Dobey won a good match against Stephen Bunting yesterday. It was a 10-8 win in the end but he was always in control having taken a 7-2 lead. However, Bunting was playing well and got back to 7-5 and then 8-7, but Dobey always kept the lead. He has won seven of his last ten matches and is showing good consistency with seven 95+ averages.

Peter Wright had a much easier task in beating a very disappointing Michael Smith 10-4. It looked like he was going to whitewash the world champion at 8-0 but Wright had a little dip before he closed it out with legs of 14 and 13 darts.

Solid Snakey

It was a good performance by Wright, very good at times, but he said that he was never comfortable on the stage, whatever that meant. Wright, like Dobey, has won seven of his last ten and while he is not quite as consistent scoring wise as Dobey, there is very little between them form wise.

Their H2H record is 5-4 to Wright and in 2023, 2-1 to Dobey. Wright won their most recent match, a 6-2 win two weeks ago in the final Euro Tour event. Dobey has been the better player in 2023 but Wright is now coming back to something like his best form and this looks a hard one to call.

Peter Wright is the 1.85 favourite with Dobey 2.10. We have backed Dobey at 7.50 to win this quarter (and the tournament at 41.00) and he has to win this to land the bet. I am happy to take some cover and back Wright.

2023 European Championship Sunday Tip: 2 points Peter Wright to win @ 1.85 with Ladbrokes

Gerwyn Price vs. Danny Noppert

Noppert has now reached his third European Championship quarter final in a row. He lost the first two, 9-10 to Aspinall in 2021 and 3-10 to Dirk van Duijvenbode last year. His win rate in TV major quarter finals is 50% across eight played.

Noppert has won six of his last ten matches and his 10-7 win over Rob Cross yesterday was not a great performance. It was not a great match with both players being a bit flat.

Gerwyn Price was a bit slow out of the blocks against Nathan Aspinall yesterday and ended the first session 2-3 down. However, he levelled the match at 5-5 before rattling off five in a row to win 10-5. He finished with a 102 average and was 34% on the doubles. It was a good performance but he left a bit out there.

Iceman A Hot Fav

He has won eight of his last ten matches and starts this match as the 1.36 favourite, with Noppert a 3.75 shot. Price has played three European Championship quarter finals and lost two, 8-10 to MVG in 2021 and 9-10 to Wade in 2018. His win was a 10-8 win over Vincent van der Voort in 2019.

Their H2H record is what swings it. Price is 11-3 vs. Noppert. In 2023 it is 4-0 and Price has won their last eight in a row.

They have played three best of 19 leg matches with Price winning two, 10-8 in last years Grand Slam and 10-3 in the 2020 UK Open. Noppert beat Price 10-7 in the 2020 Matchplay.

Noppert Can Challenge

Danny Noppert is playing well enough to win legs. He will need to play closer to what he did in the first round, when he averaged 106 against Gilding, to get close to Price. His problem is his lack of consistency. He does flip flop between ton plus averages to low 90s, but it is only a few weeks ago that Noppert won PC22 and he was banging in a lot of big numbers then.

The game is there but can he do it against a player against whom he has struggled with recently. I doubt it, but he might make a game of it. Price has been involved in close matches in all three of his quarter finals here. Two of their three best of 19 leg matches have also gone over 16 legs.

2023 European Championship Sunday Tip: 1 point over 16.5 legs @ 2.10 with Hills, Betfair

Luke Humphries vs. James Wade

Humphries was a comfortable 10-5 winner over Ratajski yesterday but he wasn’t at his best. It was a 97 average with 42% on the doubles, just par for a Luke Humphries match these days. It was 5-5 at the second break but he won the next five to wrap it up.

James Wade beat Jose de Sousa 10-1 but while Wade played well, averaging 95.5, it was all one way traffic with De Sousa averaging just 82.5 with 17% on the doubles. Needless to say, Wade can expect a tougher test this afternoon.

Easy Money

Wade has picked up £20k for getting this far but his two opponents have had a combined average of just 79.1. Nice work if you can get it. The Machine has not been stringing many wins together of late. You have to go back twenty three matches to find the last time he won more than two in a row.

Their H2H record is 8-4 to Humphries and he has won seven of their last eight. Some have been close but not their last match. That was a 6-0 win for Humphries in ET13 a couple of weeks ago. They have played one best of 19 leg match and Humphries won that 10-3 in the 2021 Matchplay.

Humphries is the 1.36 favourite to beat Wade once again and his firepower is likely to be too much for his opponent.

2023 European Championship Sunday Tip: 1 point Luke Humphries to win -2.5 legs @ 1.80 with Betvictor, Livescorebet

Michael van Gerwen vs. Gian van Veen

Van Gerwen had to be at his best to see off the persistent Pietreczko in a 10-7 win last night. It was a 104 average, 48% on the doubles and eight 180s. Pietreczko was outgunned all match long but he kept on managing to win legs and kept MVG honest all the way.

It was a good test for the four time European Champion and he didn’t have to survive any match darts this time.

Gian van Veen is the next big thing in Dutch darts and despite them being part of the same Team Toto, Van Gerwen will want to remind the youngster who is the boss. Van Veen is only playing in his third Major Championship and here he is in a quarter final.

Lacking Experience

He reached two Euro Tour quarter finals this year but he lacks experience of these longer format matches, indeed last night’s 10-6 win over Daryl Gurney was his first best of 19 legs. He coped fine, didn’t play his best but neither did Gurney who was complaining about a draft on stage. Superchin let it get to him, Van Veen just got on with it.

We saw in the first round what Van Veen can do when he averaged 107 in a 6-1 thrashing of Damon Heta. Even an in form MVG would struggle against that. In his last 50 matches he has hit a ton plus average in 24% of them and that is the kind of standard he is likely to need.

Can he do that in a longer format? We don’t know, but we do know that he is a special talent, just very inexperienced.

First Meeting

These two have yet to meet in combat so to speak, so we don’t know what is attitude to playing the Dutch master will be. Will he be a little deferential or will he fancy his chances?

Michael van Gerwen has played six European Championship quarter finals and won them all, four of them in 15 legs or less. Van Veen has the talent to give MVG a game, but will this longer format be too much for him if MVG comes out firing?

Van Gerwen is the 1.30 favourite with Van Veen 3.75. Normally I’d be jumping all over Van Veen at those odds, but not this time. I suspect MVG will want to give Van Veen the full treatment and he will break him down as the match goes on.

2023 European Championship Sunday Tip: 1 point Michael van Gerwen to win -2.5 legs @ 1.73 with BET356

That is it from me this weekend. The Mexico City GP will be getting my attention this afternoon. Hopefully Dobey and Humphries can progress and give us a deep run later this evening.

-JamesPunt