2023 European Championship R2 Preview & Tips – JP
2023 European Championship R2 Preview
James Punt is in red hot form right now. Three winners from five bets yesterday and overall, six winners from ten bets in Round 1. He is back in action with more value bets for this afternoon’s session, his 2023 European Championship R2 preview is below.
Chris Dobey vs. Stephen Bunting
Chris Dobey went 0-2 down to Dave Chisnall before reeling off six straight legs to win at a canter. Chizzy was suffering with a bad back which explains his recent drop in form. He still averaged 94.9 so it was not a gifted win for Dobey, who averaged 94.9. It was a slow start, but once Dobey got going his game was good, hitting five 180s and was 50% on the doubles.
Bunting had a very easy 6-1 win over Martin Schindler and hit a 101.4 average. His good run of form continues and his doubling was excellent, hitting six from eight.
Both players are in good form but it is Dobey who has a significant H2H record over Bunting, winning seven of their nine matches. They have not met since 2021 and it was Bunting who won their last match in the 2021 Grand Slam.
On the whole, however, Dobey has handed out a lot of heavy defeats to Bunting, including a 6-0, two 6-1s and two 6-2s. It is quite old form and Bunting is playing at his best right now, but Dobey will fancy his chances.
Hard To Call
Dobey is a best price 1.90 and as short as 1.70, with Bunting 2.10. It is a hard one to call. On current form you can make a case for Bunting being the slight favourite, but that H2H form suggests that Dobey is favourite.
Bunting has only ever won one second round match in the European Championship and that was back in 2014 when he was at his best. He isn’t far off that level right now.
Dobey has also only won one second round match but that was last year when he went on to reach the semi-finals. We are on Dobey to win the quarter and that is enough interest for me in a bit of a coin toss match. No bet.
2023 European Championship R2 Tip: No Bet
Rob Cross vs. Danny Noppert
Danny Noppert opened the show with a 6-0 demolition of Andrew Gilding and averaged 106 in the process. It was somewhat out of the blue, as he hadn’t played that well in last week’s Players Championship events. Noppert did win PC22 a month ago and he found that sort of form for Thursdays match.
Rob Cross had a straightforward 6-2 win over Dimitri van den Bergh, averaging 99.8. Cross has won six of his last ten matches, as has Noppert, and they look closely matched on recent form.
Their H2H record is also close, with Cross 3-2 up. They have met once in 2023 and that was a 6-4 win for Cross at the World Series quarter finals in September.
They have not played anything other than best of eleven leg matches and four of the five have been close matches requiring over nine legs and two went to a deciding leg.
Quarter Final Regulars
Cross is the better player but when he is on form, Noppert can give anyone a match. Noppert is going for his third quarter final in a row in the European Championships while Cross is going for his fifth. These two met in the first round back in 2018 and Cross won that 6-4.
Cross is the 1.70 favourite with Noppert the 2.30 outsider. Those odds look spot on to me. Cross is a canny operator, not least in this event.
Noppert does have a bit of a tendency to just switch off in the middle of longer matches but so far this season he has largely competed well, with eight of his ten best of 19 leg matches going to at least seventeen legs. His second round match here last year went to a deciding leg with a 10-9 win over Vincent van der Voort.
2023 European Championship R2 Tip: 1 point over 16.5 legs @ 1.80 with Boylesports, Hills
2023 European Championship R2 Tip: 0.5 point Rob Cross to win 10-7 @ 8.50 generally available
Gerwyn Price vs. Nathan Aspinall
Gerwyn Price leads their H2Hs 16-11 and while he didn’t play great against Keane Barry in the first round, he didn’t have to as Barry only averaged 84 and lost 1-6.
Price has won eight of his last ten matches and he is consistency on a stick. If you want to beat Price, you are going to have be very good. Price has played six second round matches and won three, but none of them have lasted longer than sixteen legs.
Strange Decision
Aspinall is confusing me. He came into this event having pulled out of the final two Players Championships. That in itself is not unusual, but he is outside of the top 64 in the Players Championship OOM.
He has subsequently pulled out of the final two events and will not play the finals. Turning his back on the chance to win a major? Bizarre.
Aspinall also came into this on the back of seven straight defeats. So turning up and beating Ryan Searle 6-3 and averaging 98.4 was a surprise. It was a very good performance, so why is he ducking the Players Championship?
These two met in the second round back in 2019 and Price won that one 10-6. In 2023 it is 5-2 to Price and he is the 1.54 favourite to win again.
With seven straight defeats still fresh in Aspinall’s mind, If Price can get a good start here, he should continue his record of wins over The Asp in 2023, and do so with something in hand.
2023 European Championship R2 Tip: 1 point Gerwyn Price to win -1.5 legs @ 1.75 with Betvictor
2023 European Championship R2 Tip: 1 point under 16.5 legs @ 2.00 with Betfair
Michael Smith vs. Peter Wright
Peter Wright pulled off one of his trademark comebacks after going 1-4 down to Gabriel Clemens and it took an 11 dart final leg to steal the match from the German. It was a classic Snakebite performance, not quite at his best, back against the wall, a hostile crowd, but he ground it out.
When he is in this kind of mood, he is very hard to beat. Wright has only ever lost one second round match in the European Championship. His recent form, while improving, has not been very consistent. He has lost five of his last ten matches and had four sub 92 averages.
Barney Brushed Aside
Michael Smith destroyed an underwhelming Raymond van Barneveld in a 6-1 win, averaging just under the ton and 55% on his doubles.
Like Peter Wright, Smith’s recent form is not totally convincing, also losing five of his last ten matches. His scoring has been better than Wright’s, with many more big averages.
It is an interesting contrast in the two players. Wright can win a lot of matches with quite modest averages, Smith can lose matches despite hitting ton plus ones. Smith is like a state of the art sports car, Wright, a bit more of a tank.
Their H2H record is 32 -17, and in 2023, 4-3 to Peter Wright.
The market is making Smith the 1.57 favourite and Wright a 2.40 outsider. That can’t be right. Snakebite has a better H2H record, even in 2023 which for much of which he has been in poor form. Now he is showing much better form, he is still a considerable outsider? The value lies with the Snake.
