2026 Flanders Darts Trophy Saturday Preview

We landed two winners from four bets this afternoon. You can check out James Punt’s 2026 Flanders Darts Trophy Saturday evening preview and tips below.

Josh Rock vs. Ryan Joyce

A repeat of last weekend’s second match, which Rock won 6-3. Rock isn’t in great form, losing five of his last ten matches. He is 4-3 against Joyce, and 2-0 on the Euro Tour with both wins coming this season, 6-4 and 6-3.

Joyce was made to work hard in his 6-5 win over Stephen Burton yesterday. He has won six of his last ten matches and on the Euro Tour, he has won six of his eight second round matches, while Rock has won seven from nine.

Rock is the 1.62 favourite, Joyce 2.38. They have played five best of eleven leg matches and four were under 9.5 legs. That is as good a bet as I can see here.

2026 Flanders Darts Trophy Saturday Tip: 1 point under 9. Legs @ 1.85 with Unibet

Gerwyn Price vs. Bradley Brooks

Price is the 1.33 favourite, Brooks 3.75. They last met in the final of PC21 last year and it was Brooks who won 8-5. He was a 301.00 shot to win the title and I had a massive £1.50 on him to win it. I won’t be repeating the bet here.

Brooks had shown some good form in the previous day back then, hitting a 117 average in one match, he was running red hot. His recent form now sees seven wins from his last ten matches and he has played some good stuff, and some not so good stuff.

Price has also won seven of his last ten matches and while he hit a couple of sub 90 averages, he did so in matches where that was more than enough. He has hit four ton plus averages in his last six matches and looks to be coming to the boil.  We have backed Price outright and that is enough for me. No bet.

2026 Flanders Darts Trophy Saturday Tip: No Bet

James Wade vs. Jim Long

We haven’t seen Wade since he won the Australian Masters last month. He played very well in that and even if he is a bit rusty, he’ll be too good for Jim Long.

Long beat RVB last night but that isn’t saying much these days.

Wade is the 1.29 favourite and this isn’t a betting match. No bet.

2026 Flanders Darts Trophy Saturday Tip: No bet

Gian van Veen vs. Gabriel Clemens

The German Giant was able to beat Cameron Menzies 6-4 in round one. It was an OK performance but he will need to play better in this.

Van Veen isn’t in his best form, but he has hit seven 95+ averages in his last ten and that should be too good for Clemens.

Clemens did win a Players Championship title, his first PDC title, in July, but since then he has played 16 and lost 9. He was mostly winning against the journeymen.

Clemens does have a 3-2 H2H record with Van Veen, but two wins came back in 2023, when Clemens was a better player.

Van Veen is the 1.44 favourite, Clemens 2.88. There is some money going down on Clemens, but none of it is mine. No bet.

2026 Flanders Darts Trophy Saturday Tip: No bet

Michael van Gerwen vs. Damon Heta

Heta beat Beau Greaves 6-5 last night and he was a lucky boy. He has lost six of his last ten matches and there is no consistency in his game. He could play well tonight, but he has lost six of his ten second round matches in 2026.

MVG reached the semi-final last weekend and played a couple of good games. Scoring is rarely his problem but his doubling can be. It isn’t terrible, but he is missing important doubles and he has lost that ability to do the right things at the right time.

Their H2H record is 11-8 to MVG. Heta beat MVG 6-4 in ET10 a month ago, MVG beat Heta 6-3 in ET7 back in May.

In their last five best of eleven leg matches, four have been over 9.5 legs and this has the feel of another close one.

2026 Flanders Darts Trophy Saturday Tip: 1 point over 9.5 legs @ 1.91 generally available

Nathan Aspinall vs. Niko Springer

Springer had a facile 6-1 win over a local qualifier last night and his real tournament starts here. He has won five of his last ten matches, but you have to go back to July to find the last time he won back-to-back matches. You have to go back to May to find his last back-to-back wins on the Euro Tour.

Aspinall lost his opening match last week, but he has generally played well in Europe this season, and last. He is a very consistent player, hits a lot of mid to high 90 averages and is hard to beat.

Their H2H record is 0-0. They have never met before, which is a surprise.

Aspinall is the 1.50 favourite but I will take him to cover a -1.5 leg handicap.

2026 Flanders Darts Trophy Saturday Tip: 1 point Aspinall to win -1.5 legs @ 1.83 with Betfred

Stephen Bunting vs. Brendan Dolan

Interesting. Bunting has lost half of his second-round matches in 2026 and is still outside of the top 32 in the European Championship O.O.M. The pressure is on, and on a player who has lost seven of his last ten matches.

Dolan beat Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-3, despite averaging just 80.56. Dolan has lost his last eleven second round matches on the Euro Tour and his last win was in 2023. He really doesn’t travel well. Dolan has won seven of his last ten matches and was runner up in PC 28 a couple of weeks ago. If he could bring that sort of form in his suitcase, he would be a bet here, but his Euro Tour record is pretty dire.

H2H

Their H2H record is 4-4 and Dolan won their only match in 2026, 6-5. Six of their seven best of eleven leg matches have been over 9.5 legs.

Bunting is the 1.44 favourite, Dolan 3.25. In terms of recent form, Dolan looks the value, but this is the Euro Tour. Coud the pressure on Bunting, and his lack of form, be enough to allow a surprise result? I am going to chicken out and hope for a low quality, dire but close match.

2026 Flanders Darts Trophy Saturday Tip: 1 point over 9.5 legs @ 2.10 with Unibet

Wessel Nijman vs. Sebastian Bialecki

I was so pleased that Bialecki beat Kim Huybrechts last night. I had forgotten what a prick Huybrechts can be. He was trying his hardest to intimidate Bialecki, who wouldn’t say boo to a goose, and he failed. Bye bye to Huybrechts’ Grand Prix chances. Delicious.

Bialecki is still trying to earn a place at the European Championships. He will have a better idea of what he needs to do after the preceding match, but the simple bit is that he needs to win this to start with. He has won seven of his last ten matches and won his second PDC title in July.

Bialecki just quietly gets on with things and is sneaky good. He has also reached a Euro Tour semi-final in 2026. Bilecki won his place in the Grand Prix last night and he will be feeling very good, not that he will show it.

Nijman Not At Best

Nijman has lost four of his last seven matches and he hasn’t been at his imperious best for a while, but he did hit a couple of 97+ averages last weekend. He is the better player, of course, and the 1.40 favourite.

Their H2H record is 5-2 to Nijman, but Bialecki beat him 6-3 in the Belgian Darts Open in March. Is there something in the Belgian air that gets Bialecki firing? Maybe he loves chips and mayo or is partial to a waffle. I can’t see him being a huge fan of a Belgian ale though. I am prepared to have an ambitious bet for Bialecki to repeat his previous win over Nijman on Belgian soil.

2026 Flanders Darts Trophy Saturday Tip: 1 point Sebastian Bilecki to win @ 3.10 with Hills (3.00 elsewhere if you want more than 10p on it)

That is that for me this weekend. We have another Formula 1/darts clash tomorrow. I won’t be covering the World Series finals next weekend, but there will be an outright preview on Tuesday. Full darts coverage returns with the Grand Prix, which starts on the 28th.

-JamesPunt