2026 European Darts Open Friday Preview & Tips – JP
2026 European Darts Open Friday Preview
Check out James Punt’s 2026 European Darts Open Friday betting preview below. His outright preview and tips are here.
Kim Huybrechts vs Samuel Price
At least one Price has turned up this weekend, just not the one the punters want to see.
Sam Price is a tour card holder, winning it back in January. Since winning his card he has played 52 matches and won just 18. On the positive side, he has won nine of his last nineteen, all of them in Euro Tour qualifiers. This is his Euro Tour debut, but he will be back for ET11 in Hungary.
Huybrechts has won seven of his last ten matches and is playing with a good deal of consistency. His Euro Tour record in 2026 has seen him play six first round matches and winning all of them, the first four, all 6-3.
These two met in a Players Championship match in May and Huybrechts won that 6-4. The Belgian is the 1.33 favourite but I will have a tickle on the correct score.
2026 European Darts Open Friday Tip: 0.5 point Huybrechts to win 6-3 @ 5.25 with SpreadEx
Daryl Gurney vs Maik Kuivenhoven
Superchin missed out on qualification for the Matchplay by just £750. That was because he has been in poor form just when he needed to win a match or two. He has lost seven of his last ten matches. On the Euro Tour, he has lost his last three opening matches. Multiple chances to get a win and qualify for a Major, but he blew it.
Kuivenhoven had a deep run to the final of PC22 three weeks ago and has won six of his last ten matches. On the Euro Tour, he has played two first round matches and lost both, heavily, 1-6 and 2-6. He has lost his last seven opening Euro Tour matches.
Two players who have been struggling on the Euro Tour, but Kuivenhoven did have that recent final, which was a big deal for him. He needs a few more if he is to retain his tour card at the end of the year.
Their H2H record is 6-5 to Gurney, but Kuivenhoven has won their last two and four of their last five.
Gurney is the 1.67 favourite but given his recent form, he is opposed with Kuivenhoven at 2.38.
2026 European Darts Open Friday Tip: 1 point Maik Kuivenhoven win @ 2.38 with BET365, Skybet
William O’Connor vs Sebastian Bialecki
An interesting matchup. O’Connor has put in some good performances in 2026. However, in his most recent matches he has hit seven consecutive sub 90 averages. He still won four of them, but scoring like that is inviting a defeat.
Bialecki is starting to come of age. He won a Players Championship title last year and is dominating the Development tour this year, winning six titles. He has won five of his last ten matches at senior level and hit 91+ averages in all ten.
Bialecki has played three Euro Tour events in 2026 and won two first round matches. Not as good as O’Connor, who has played nine first round matches and won seven, including a 6-2 win against Bialecki in the first round of ET4. Their H2H record is 3-0 to O’Connor.
Bialecki is playing a bit better than O’Connor right now and my gut tells me he can give the Irishman a match here. Sadly, the market agrees and the Pole is the 1.83 favourite and I can’t say that is value. No bet.
2026 European Darts Open Friday Tip: No bet
Rob Cross vs. Max Hopp
We are on Cross outright and this is a tricky first round match against a home crowd favourite. Hopp is coming back to form having lost his tour card and becoming a TV pundit on German TV. He reached a Players Championship final in May and has won five of his last ten matches. One of those matches was 4-6 loss to Rob Cross.
Cross has won seven of his last ten matches and is playing really well. His worst average in his last ten matches was a 94.84 in that 6-4 win over Hopp.
Their H2H record is 8-4 to Cross, but in 2026, it is 1-1. Cross is the 1.40 favourite and it is hard to see any value in this match. No bet.
2026 European Darts Open Friday Tip: No bet
Joe Cullen vs Charlie Manby
Cullen is the 1.73 favourite, which is just as well as he gets a bit upset if he is the outsider against kids that have won nothing.
Cullen has won five of his last ten matches and he was playing very well in this week’s Players Championship. He hit averages of 100, 97, 97, 106 and 97, but only won three matches.
Charlie Manby was all the rage at Ally Pally when he reached the last 16. He then went to Q school and won his tour card. He has reached three Players Championship quarter finals, including in PC23 on Monday. Champagne Charlie has won six of his last ten matches and like most young players, consistency is the last part of the jigsaw, and he hasn’t found it yet.
They have only met once, with Cullen winning 6-4 back in March. I am siding with the GOAT.
2026 European Darts Open Friday Tip: 1 point Joe Cullen to win @ 1.73 with Boylesports
Kevin Doets vs. Dominic Gruellich
Gruellich won a Players Championship title last year but that will feel like a very distant memory for a player who has lost eight of his last ten matches.
Doets has won six of his last ten matches and has been lacking a bit of consistency of late. The Dutchman has played seven first round matches on the Euro Tour in 2026 and won all seven. He won three of them 6-0, three 6-3 and the other 6-4.
These two met once in a Players Championship match last year and Doets won that 6-2, despite averaging less than 90.
Doets is the 1.20 favourite and he should win this with something in hand. Gruellich has only played in one Euro Tour and lost 4-6 to Luke Woodhouse last year.
2026 European Darts Open Friday Tip: 0.5 point Kevin Doets to win 6-3 @ 5.00 with Betfair, Skybet
Niko Springer vs. Darius Labanauskas
Springer is a Euro Tour winner but his recent form sees just four wins from his last ten matches and on the Euro Tour, he has won five of his nine first round matches.
Darius Labanauskas is bang out of form, losing seven of his last ten matches. In the last 12 months he has played in three Euro Tour events and lost two first round matches.
They met on the Euro Tour back in 2022 and Labanauskas won that 6-2. The Lithuanian is being backed and is the 2.20 outsider of two, but I can’t muster any enthusiasm for this one. No bet.
2026 European Darts Open Friday Tip: No Bet
Niels Zonneveld vs. Daniel Klose
Another home player to close the evening session. Klose has won eight of his last ten matches, but they were in local qualifiers and the PDC Next Gen circuit, but he has scored pretty well on the whole. He has a good A game and has wins over the likes of Manby (twice), Gurney, Mansell and taken Humphries to a deciding leg in 2026.
His Euro Tour record in 2026 amounts to a 3-6 loss to Ratajski. He has played seven Euro Tours in the last three years and only won one first round match. He lost five of them 3-6.
Zonneveld had a few good Euro Tour runs earlier in the season, with back-to-back semi-finals in March. More recently, he has lost his last three second round matches but he has won eight of his nine first round matches. Zonneveld’s recent form sees six wins from his last ten matches but he is not playing with a lot of consistency. He is the 1.40 favourite, with Klose at 3.50.
They have met twice, both in Euro Tour qualifiers in 2024, and it was one win each.
