2025 European Darts Trophy Betting Preview – JP
2025 European Darts Trophy Betting Preview
Rob Cross reeled in the big fish with his final throw to scupper our hopes of a winner at the Premier League on Thursday night. James Punt is back in action this weekend, check out his 2025 European Darts Trophy betting preview below. No afternoon session preview today, James will have an evening session preview later today.
2025 European Darts Trophy
This tournament was last played in 2018, when MVG beat James Wade in the final. In fact, MVG has dominated the previous renewals of the European Darts Trophy. He was a semi-finalist in the first one back in 2013, runner up in 2014 and 2015. He then won the title for the next three years, up to its last appearance on the calendar in 2018.
Of course, that was the MVG that ruled the roost. There are new players dominating now, but will they come?
The darts tournaments are coming thick and fast and it is hard to keep on of top of the form. Since the last Euro Tour event two weeks ago, we have now had four Players Championship events, including two this week, and the usual Premier League nights.
Germany
This weekend’s venue is the Lokhalle in Göttingen, Germany. This is a university town in central Germany, and not the easiest to get to, especially for the Premier League players. There is no major airport close by so it will be a matter of flying to Dortmund, Hanover or Leipzig and making an onward journey from there.
The Premier League is in Cardiff on Thursday and those players are going to have a right old trek to get there, and I would not be surprised to see a number of withdrawals. Gary Anderson is one of the seeded players and he did travel to Germany for Monday and Tuesday’s Players Championship events, winning PC7. Will that be enough for him in one week?
Littler Out
One early withdrawal was a certain Luke Littler, the winner of the Belgian Darts Open two weeks ago. That win gives him the freedom to pick and choose which Euro Tour events he plays in from the remaining twelve events and I expect we will not see too much of him until after the Premier League is finished.
At least the other players will now get a chance to win something. Stephen Bunting was a late withdrawal, maybe the eighth consecutive PL defeat has broken him.
This week’s two Players Championship events were played in Hildesheim, not that far from Göttingen. I imagine some players would just stay in Germany and have a few days holiday, rather than travelling home and back again a couple of days later. All but one of the Premier League players, Van Gerwen, skipped the events, as did quite a few regular tour card holders.
The 2025 European Darts Trophy Seeds
1 Luke Humphries
Lost his third consecutive PL quarter final last night. It was a 4-6 defeat to MVG. Humphries started the match well, but he faded just as MVG kicked in. It was a match he should have won and it is now three defeats in a row for Cool Hand. He needs to assert himself and get some wins under his belt. Humphries will face the winner of the Dirk van Duijvenbode vs. Boris Krcmar match, and that is a tough opener.
2 Michael van Gerwen
The only PL player to attend the Players Championships on Monday and Tuesday. He lost his first round match on Monday, a 3-6 loss to Nico Springer, with both players averaging under 90. MVG just could not take the chances he created or was presented with.
Van Gerwen beat Luke Humphries at the PL last night. It was a strange match. MVG started poorly, Humphries looked very much in control, but Luke missed a straightforward checkout and the match just flipped. MVG suddenly found his A game and Humphries folded.
A sign that MVG is back? Maybe. He made the final but lost that, again, to Luke Littler.
3 Rob Cross
Remains impossible to call. A 170 checkout stole his match with Gerwyn Price last night. He averaged 89 in that one, but was 101 against Littler, which he lost 2-6. If you can figure Cross out, well done. I can’t.
4 Jonny Clayton
Didn’t play in the midweek Players Championships. Clayton has won six of his last ten matches but he is putting in too many underwhelming performances to have confidence that he could go all the way.
5 Dave Chisnall
Lost his first round match in PC7 on Monday, averaging just 84.44 in a 5-6 loss to Tommy Lishman. Not good. He continues to be very much out of form. He managed to make the quarter final in Belgium two weeks ago but averaged just over 90 across his three matches. On the oppose list.
6 Damon Heta
Played six matches in midweek, winning four, but he hit three sub 90 averages. He has been playing plenty of good stuff, but there are as much mediocre darts as his good darts. He has won seven of his last ten matches, but he is struggling, and has struggled for a long time, to advance beyond quarter finals. His bad games will get him caught out and the deeper he gets, the tougher the opposition.
7 Gerwyn Price
Probably feels like he was robbed in Cardiff on Thursday night. Price started his match with Rob Cross slowly, went 0-3 down and looked down and out. He found his game and got it to 5-5. Price was on 38 when Cross stepped up and checked out 170 to nick it.
It was very annoying. He was by far the better player once he got going, but giving up a three leg lead in a best of eleven leg match makes you vulnerable. Price has lost four of his last ten matches. He is still not quite there but he is not out of the running. He tends to win one of these Euro Tour events early in the season and he is on the short list.
8 Nathan Aspinall
Gubbed by Littler again last night. Aspinall has lost six of his last ten matches and is far from his best form.
9 Chris Dobey
Will have been relieved to beat Stephen Bunting last night to end is run of five defeats in the PL, but he only averaged 90.27 in what was a very poor match. He then lost his semi-final 1-6 to MVG. His form is poor and it is hard to see him doing much this weekend.
10 Danny Noppert
Hasn’t really got going in 2025. It started well with a semi-final at the World Masters, but his overall win rate is just 50%. Most recently, Noppert has lost eight of his last eleven matches.
11 Peter Wright
Reached the quarter final of PC7 on Monday and he played well enough, but nothing special. He went out in the first round on Tuesday and has now lost six of his last ten matches.
12 James Wade
Another no show for this week’s Players Championships. Wade is in decent form, winning seven of his last ten matches. He was a semi-finalist in the Belgian Darts Open three weeks ago. Before that, he was runner up in the UK Open so we should not be surprised to see another good run.
13 Gary Anderson
Won his 30th Players Championship title on Monday. It had been a slow start to the season, but that was to be expected as he wasn’t playing much. Anderson lost in the second round on Tuesday. One eye on a flight home?
I am sure he would love to turn up and win this and then take the rest of the season off until the summer. He did win the second Euro Tour event he played in last year, and didn’t play another one until the Belgian Darts Open this year.
14 Dimitri van den Bergh
His seasonal average has now dropped below 90. His 2025 win rate is just 41%. Dimitri has lost eight of his last ten matches and his last six in a row, which saw three sub 80 averages. There is clearly something seriously wrong. He only seems to get up for the TV events.
15 Josh Rock
Struggling to win matches, Rock has lost six of his last ten matches and he is getting frustrated. His form is dropping off as the frustration grows. He signed to a new darts manufacturer at the start of the year and, with a new baby, 2025 was going to be the year he challenged Luke Littler.
Instead he is now losing to Haupai Puha and Adam Warner. He did reach the semi-final of the UK Open, but it seems to me he is expecting everything to fall into place, and getting frustrated that it isn’t.
16 Michael Smith
Gets bumped up to seeded status thanks to Bunting’s withdrawal. Smith has lost six of his last ten matches and hit four sub 90 averages and a sub 80. Hard to fancy.
Best of the Rest
The other thirty two players in the tournament have to come in at the first round stage, and the draw is all important for these players. Having one more match to play makes it harder for them to win or have a good run, but with more of the ‘top’ players in the first round these days, getting a tough first round match is now much more likely.
There are some players coming into the first round in good form.
Martin Schindler
Winner of PC8 on Tuesday, Schindler has now picked up three titles in just under 12 months, including two Euro Tours. He did seem a little underwhelmed after he won and that is because he didn’t actually play that well.
He only averaged 91 across his seven matches. It happens sometimes. Players winning a tournament not because they played well, but just because their opponents played worse. He averaged 86.57 in the final and beat Jeffrey de Graaf 8-1.
Ryan Searle
He lost in the quarter final of PC8 on Tuesday but unlike Schindler, he averaged 102.18 but came up against Dom Taylor in the quarters. Searle averaged 106.26 but lost 5-6. Schindler won the title, but Searle was the better player. With a good draw, Searle could have a deep run.
Ross Smith
Showing some good form. A semi-finalist in ET1, and a semi-finalist in PC6. There is an argument that he is a bit of a nearly man, but the talent is there to win things.
Gian van Veen
Runner up in PC5 and winner of PC6. The World Youth Champion is now a winner at senior level. It was going to happen sooner or later, it’s just disappointing that I wasn’t on. When he had that great run just a week ago, Van Veen was beating the players who were in great form.
He beat Humphries in the final, beat Luke Littler, MVG, the in-form Dom Taylor, the GOAT Joe Cullen, Wattimena and Wade. All players who were tough tests. The next step is to take his best form on to the stage. He has been a runner up on the Euro Tour before.
Mike de Decker
Two recent Players Championship semi-finals shows that De Decker is hitting some decent form. It is not yet his best form. He has won six of his last ten matches but hit four sub 90 averages in those ten. He was runner up on home soil in ET1 and his confidence is high, which is half the battle.
Dirk van Duijvenbode
Has won seven of his last ten matches, he is hitting more 180s and playing a lot better than in 2024. However, is he capable of winning titles? Yes, Dirk has won six Players Championships, the last in 2023, but he just looks like he is getting so tight when he gets close to the real business end of tournaments.
Maybe after a long time with injuries, his confidence is just not there yet, but He looks opposable in the latter stages. He lost a semi-final on Monday, 4-7 to Adam Lipscombe. Once he starts winning matches by wider margins, he could move up a level, but he keeps on getting embroiled in matches that he should dominate.
The Draw
First Quarter
Three of the seeds are PL players. Luke Humphries, Nathan Aspinall and Chris Dobey. The other seed is now Michael Smith. Humphries is the form player, despite his losing PL form. Humphries is the only seed in any sort of form and that opens thing up for the first round players to have a good run, just as Mike De Decker did in Belgium.
Notable first round entrants are Dirk van Duijvenbode and Kevin Doets. I have to say neither strikes me as being ready to win a tournament. Jermaine Wattimena has lost his best form and maybe Ritchie Edhouse can summon up his Euro Tour magic for another good run, but he has lost five of his last ten matches.
Humphries will have a testing second round match, but if he wins that, he looks a solid chance to make the semi-final. Doets has won eight of his last ten matches, but he has done so without doing anything special.
Second Quarter
Jonny Clayton is now the top seed in the quarter, joined by Anderson, Chisnall and Wade. Chisnall is bang out of form, but the other three seeds are playing well. First round entrants of interest are Ross Smith and PC8 winner Martin Schindler. Gary Anderson would love to win this and not have to play in another Euro Tour event. His draw looks good.
Third Quarter
Michael van Gerwen looked to have a good draw until Bunting withdrew and everything got shuffled about. He is now joined by Gerwyn Price, Josh Rock and Danny Noppert. I fancy Price to bounce back from his disappointment of Thursday night.
MVG did show his A game at times last night and if he can keep it going, he is in the mix, but he is still not banker material. He faces either Nico Springer or Daryl Gurney in his opening match. Gurney has been a thorn in MVG’s side over the years, and Springer beat Van Gerwen on Monday. Price for me.
Fourth Quarter
Rob Cross will be pleased that the redraw of the seeds means Gary Anderson is no longer in his quarter. He is now joined by the hopelessly out of form Dimitri van den Bergh, Dodgy Damon Heta and the long term out of form Peter Wright.
First round entrants include the GOAT, Joe Cullen, Belgian Darts Open runner up Mike de Decker and the two Scotsmen Alan Soutar and Cameron Menzies who will play each other today. Cross has got a good draw here and he has the game to go deep, but he has lost five of his last ten matches and he is something of an underachiever.
Joe Cullen won PC6 a couple of weeks ago but has not played well since. Menzies is not in great form. Alan Soutar is showing flashes of brilliance but equal amounts of mediocrity. Perhaps Mike de Decker can do what he did in Belgium and make his way to the final. It is a wide open quarter.
2025 European Darts Trophy Selections
With no Luke Littler playing this weekend, we have a much more unpredictable tournament. The obvious favourite is Luke Humphries, but has losing his last three matches in a row put a dent in his confidence? He is the 4.00 favourite and there is no real value there.
Gary Anderson won a Players Championship earlier this week. I am surprised he made it here, but that suggests that he sees a chance to win and end the torture of any more European travel for the year. It has to be said that Anderson is a better player on the floor these days, but he did win on the Euro Tour this weekend.
Heathrow Closed
I am watching the news as I write this up and the big story is that Heathrow is closed and will be all day. That may well screw up the travel arrangements of some players coming from the UK. The first round players would likely have travelled in yesterday, some may have stayed in Germany after the midweek Players Championship events, but I would not be surprised if this Heathrow story does not impact on the line up, but as of 11am, I have no idea.
I didn’t wake expecting my day’s punting to be thrown into doubt by a fire at an electricity sub station near Heathrow, but there you go. The resilience of the UK’s infrastructure has been exposed. No plan B.
Rather than place outright bets now, I am going to wait until Saturday morning, when we will have a firm line up.
There are players that will definitely be here as they are not travelling via Heathrow. The home players and the European based players (except MVG) will not be affected.
We can back any of those that make any appeal, and we might even get lucky if some of the big names have to withdraw.
2025 European Darts Trophy Tip: 0.5 point Mike de Decker to win @ 34.00 with Betfred
That has to be it for now. We can revisit the outright market tomorrow. I have run out of time to preview this afternoons matches, but there will be a preview later this afternoon for the evening session. Hopefully by then, we will have a better idea of any possible withdrawals.