2026 European Darts GP R1 Previews & Tips – JP
2026 European Darts GP R1 Preview
James Punt has already posted his outright preview and tips, get those here. Check out his 2026 European Darts GP R1 preview and tips below.
There are a lot of uncompetitive matches in this session but there are three bets worth making.
Niels Zonneveld vs. Keane Barry
Keane Barry is 6-4 vs. Zonneveld and beat him 6-5 when they met 18 days ago. That was their second 6-5 result from their eight previous best of eleven leg matches, but the other six have all been very one-sided affairs and under 9.5 legs.
Zonneveld is in great form on the Euro Tour, very much at home in these events now, and is the 1.57 favourite, but Barry is a player that can pull off the odd surprise. I will go for another one-sided match.
2026 European Darts GP R1 Tip: 1 point under 9.5 legs @ 1.80 generally available
Andrew Gilding vs. Paul Krohne
Gilding has been enjoying some good runs but he can be vulnerable in the first round, and losing seven of his twelve Euro Tour first round matches in the last twelve months illustrates that fact.
Krohne is a local qualifier and will be playing in his fourth Euro Tour event, and his second in 2026. He beat Cameron Menzies in ET2 and took four legs off Josh Rock in round 2. He took Nijman to a deciding leg in a first round match last year, so he is not to be taken likely.
Of course, he has never played Captain Weird and Gilding could freak him out, but this isn’t the German’s first Rodeo.
2026 European Darts GP R1 Tip: 1 point over 9.5 legs @ 2.10 with Betfair
Rob Cross vs. Mickey Mansell
Cross has won six of his last ten matches, four of them in Euro Tour qualifiers. That is how far he has fallen, having to play in the tour card holders qualifying events.
He hit four ton plus averages in his six qualifiers, but lost both his finals, so he won’t be at ET7 or ET8. Very bad news for the UK Taxman. He is playing some good stuff, but in every three or four matches, he will hit a flat spot.
Mansell continues to exist in the land of the journeyman pros and does it well. You don’t have a tour card for 15 years without being able to get results. His recent form is not good, losing six of his last ten matches. He hit some big averages when qualifying for this, including a 106, but that was a couple of weeks ago, and since then his best was a 91.74.
In the last 12 months Mansell has played seven first round matches on the Euro Tour matches and won five, beating the likes of Edhouse, De Decker, O’Connor and Michael Smith. He is an awkward player that some people really struggle with, a bit like Andrew Gilding.
H2H
Their H2H record is 6-2 to Cross, which is what you would expect between a journeyman pro and a former World Champion. Mansell won their last match, a 6-1 win last February in a Players Championship. They have met on the Euro Tour once, in 2023, Cross winning 6-4. It is fair to say that Cross is a worse player now than in 2023, while Mansell just plays at the same kind of level for eons.
Cross is the 1.50 favourite, Mansell 2.75. All eight of their matches have been best of eleven legs and five required a deciding leg, another was a 6-4, with two 6-1.
