2022 European Darts GP Preview

The 2022 European Darts GP is the fourth of the five in a row marathon on the Euro Tour. This weekend there is a new venue for the European Darts Grand Prix, but it remains in Germany with Stuttgart now the host city. This will be the eighth time the tournament has been held and we have had six previous champions. Michael van Gerwen won in 2016 and 2018 and is the only multiple winner. The others have been Merv King, Kim Huybrechts, Peter Wright, Ian White and Jose de Sousa.

It has been something of a MVG and Peter Wright showcase with four finals each. The other runners up being Michael Smith and James Wade.

We are getting used to the usual suspects in terms of the seeded players, but I’ll have a quick run through with their latest form. Gerwyn Price announced his withdrawal from the tournament on Thursday. Martin Schindler is promoted to the sixteenth seed and straight into the quarter of death. Eddie Lovely gets a bye to meet Daryl Gurney in the second round.

2022 European Darts GP: The Seeds (1-16)

Michael van Gerwen

Has won three Euro Tour titles in 2022 and has only lost matches to Danny Noppert and Luke Humphries (twice). He has won seven of his last ten matches. Obvious contender but he was far from impressive in last night’s premier league. He lost 5-6 to Michael Smith, and for once he let Smith off the hook. Smith had been 5-2 up, Van Gerwen squared the match 5-5, but missed three match darts to win. It was just a very indifferent performance and he looked out of sorts.

Jose de Sousa

Defending champion from 2020 and defending £25k ranking money. He finally got going on the Euro Tour last week, reaching the semi-final. That will have given his confidence a much needed boost. He has a reasonable draw in the third quarter and there is a path to the quarter finals, but he is hard to fancy after that.

Peter Wright

A tournament specialist, past winner and three-time runner up. Sadly his recent form has been poor and he seems to have forgotten how to win. He has won 2 of his last ten matches and reverted to wearing glasses in last night’s premier league. He is searching for the magic bullet that will turn his form around and that is not a good sign.

Joe Cullen

Another of the premier league players who have been racking up the air miles in the last month. He has won six of his last ten matches but hasn’t really got going on the European Tour. He won last night’s premier league, beating a disinterest Anderson, the out of form Wright and a not quite firing Ferret. It was a solid if unspectacular performance.

Rob Cross

landed the place spoils for us last weekend, runner up to Luke Humphries. That was his sixth euro tour final without a win, but it was a confidence building weekend. Cross has won seven of his last ten, and he actually wasn’t at his best last week. He averaged 94.7, compared to a seasonal average of 96.7. Another good is possible but it looks like he will have a tough opening match.

Michael Smith

A quarter finalist in the first two euro tour events but since then he has played three and lost two, including an opening round defeat to Rowby-John Rodriguez last weekend. He has won seven of his last ten matches but lost three of his last four.

Dimitri van den Bergh

Continues to struggle to make an impact on 2022 after a good start. He has lost five of his last ten matches but made the final of ET5 a couple of weeks ago. It’s hard to say how well he will go but despite that recent final, he hasn’t reproduced the kind of form he showed in the first three months of the season.

Damon Heta

He will be getting frustrated with his euro tour form. Averaging 98.5 in 2022, he won a players championship title in March and had three more semi-finals since then. He made the semi-final of ET3 but lost to Marin Lukeman. Since then, he has lost his opening match in the last three. Still one of the best players on tour, but not getting the results his game should be getting.

Ryan Searle

Another player who must be getting frustrated. He has lost five of his last ten matches and went out 5-6 to Adam Gawlas last week, averaging just 86.7. The home crowd may have got to him, but he’ll have to get used to that in Europe. His last eight matches have all been on the euro tour and he has won just four.

Luke Humphries

Is now a two-time winner on the euro tour this season and has won three ranking titles in 2022. He now has the confidence to go with his talent and the sky is the limit. He has won eight of his last ten matches and he doesn’t have the distraction and extra travel of those players who are playing premier league.

Dirk van Duijvenbode

Winner of PC12 last month and lost two ET quarter finals, both to MVG, since then. Needs to show a bit more bottle to go with his good scoring.

Krzysztof Ratajski

The unluckiest man in darts? Very possibly. It doesn’t seem to matter who he plays, that opponent will turn up and shoot the lights out. He averaged 98.5 last weekend and lost 0-6 to Ricky Evans. In ET5 he averaged 98.7 and got beaten 2-6 to Josh Rock. It’s been much the same on the pro tour and he must be getting pissed off. He is due a break and his own game is probably good, we just don’t get to see much of it.

Daryl Gurney

Superchin has only won five of his last ten matches, but there is a game in there trying to get out. He looked at his best last weekend, averaging 103, hitting 5 maximums with 50% on the doubles, but he lost 5-6 to Dave Chisnall. He is doing a lot of things well, but the winning habit is not there. Needs a few good runs to get his full confidence back, and if he does then he will make good progress. He’s got a Lovely draw for his opening match.

Jonny Clayton

Has won six of his last ten matches but his scoring remains top class. Things are not happening for him on the euro tour but he remains hard to ignore. Perhaps he will kick on after the premier league is finished, but he just isn’t quite firing in terms of tournament play.

Brendan Dolan

Has lost eight of his last ten matches and on the euro tour he has played six, lost five. He seems happier in floor events.

Martin Schindler

Lost 5-6 to Van der Voort in the first-round last week, but he continues to play well. Has won six of his ten euro tour matches and is a tough opponent. His promotion to sixteenth seed is a two edged sword as he gets MVG in the third round if they both get there.

Notable Unseeded Players

It must be said that the line up of the unseeded players is very strong this weekend.

Danny Jansen

Has won a players championship title already on his year on tour. We last saw him in ET 4 where he made the last 16, beating Luke Humphries in the second round. He has lost six of his last ten matches, however.

Stephen Bunting

Reached the semi-final of ET4 and he is putting in some good performances without threatening the winner’s circle.

Martijn Kleermaker

Has won six of his last ten matches and is always a dangerous opponent but no more than that.

Martin Lukeman

Runner up in ET3 he is loving life on the Euro tour. Won six of his last ten but his firepower has tailed off.

Mickey Mansell

Reached the third round last week on a rare euro tour visit. He has won six of his last ten and might pick up another win but not much more.

Jim Williams

Another pro tour winner in his debut year. He has lost six of his last ten matches but is playing better than that suggests.

Ryan Joyce

Reached the semi-final of PC15 a couple of weeks ago and has won seven of his last ten. A handy player when on form.

Danny Noppert

A major winner in 2022, but still needs to qualify for the Euro tour. He has a 73% win rate in 2022 and has won seven of his last ten. He was runner up in ET4 and is a contender, despite having to play on Friday.

Kim Huybrechts

A past winner of this event, but not in this venue. He has lost six of his last ten matches but is playing better than that sounds.

Rowby-John Rodriguez

Has won five of his eight euro tour matches in 2022 and made the quarter finals last weekend. He played well, is improving and confident.

Callan Rydz

Arguably THE form player this weekend. He has won ten of his last twelve matches, was runner up in PC15 last time out and has hit eleven ton plus averages in his last twelve matches. Watch out for The Riot.

Adam Gawlas

Last week’s beaten quarter finalist in Prague but he will not have home advantage this time. His scoring was not great last week, and this may be a bit of a come down, but the experience will have done him good.

Luke Woodhouse

Is playing some very good stuff, such as his 109 average against Mansell in ET5, but has lost six of his last ten.

Madars Razma

Is winning plenty of matches in 2022 and seven of his last ten. Growing in confidence and proving quite hard to beat despite not being a heavy scorer much of the time.

Gabriel Clemens

Has lost five of his six opening euro tour matches in 2022 and looks much more comfortable on the floor.

2022 European Darts GP: Ante Post Selections

The first quarter is tough looking. MVG is the top seed, joined by Schindler, Heta and Searle. Any of those four could get through to the semi-final, but all are hard to fancy for various reasons. MVG’s most recent form isn’t great, while the other three have potential but just haven’t realised it on the euro tour so far.

The second quarter has Joe Cullen as the top seed, along with Daryl Gurney, Rob Cross and Krzysztof Ratajski. That looks wide open and then you must throw in Callan Rydz as one of the best unseeded players.

All Eyes On Humphries

The third quarter has De Sousa has the top seed, but all eyes will be on Luke Humphries. He looks likely to face Van den Bergh in round three, and that is a key match for finding the winner of the quarter.

The last quarter sees the out of form Peter Wright as the top seed and he is joined by the much more likely quarter winners, Smith, Clayton, and Van Duijvenbode. This quarter also has Danny Noppert as one of the unseeded players.

Last weekend we had just seven seeded players making the third round and it was looking like an unseeded player could make hay. Only Vincent van der Voort made the semi-finals. In the Austrian Darts Open we had two unseeded players who made the semi-finals and Danny Noppert was runner up to MVG.

Martin Lukeman made the final in German Darts Grand Prix and Daryl Gurney the semi-final in ET2. Clearly the seeded players have an advantage, but do not rule out an in form unseeded player making the business end of the tournament.

Of the players who are playing in the premier league, MVG and Price have won titles, Wright made one final, but it might be that the extra travel over the last three months is taking a toll.

Luke Humphries 1 point to win the 2022 European Darts GP @ 13.00 with Betfred

Callan Rydz to win the 2022 European Darts GP 0.5 point e/w @ 41.00 with Betfred, Ladbrokes

Martin Schindler to win the 2022 European Darts GP 0.5 point e/w @ 101.00 with Boylesports, Betfred, Unibet

Danny Noppert to win the 2022 European Darts GP 0.5 point e/w @ 26.00 with generally available

With this week’s Euro Tour directly clashing with The Spanish GP, there will be very limited match coverage this weekend. I’ll skip through todays first round matches shortly, but that may well be it, but keep your eye out just in case I find a little time.

-JamesPunt