Nordic Darts Quarter Finals Tips

Another blow. After Wales’ demise in last weeks World Cup of Darts, this weekend sees our sole outright bet for the Nordic Darts Masters withdraw shortly after winning his first-round match. Gerwyn Price said that he was suffering from tennis elbow and would be returning to Wales for treatment. You can’t blame him, we are now going into the business end of the season, the big money events come thick and fast, and he needs to be fit for that. A non-ranking exhibition tournament isn’t a big deal, so it was an easy decision. Sadly, it means we are 2.5 points down despite our man being unbeaten and qualifying for the Nordic Darts Quarter Finals.

Price’s withdrawal makes the top half of the draw very open, and Anderson and Van den Bergh will be licking their lips and Fallon Sherrock gets a bye into the semi-final and at least £5k prize money.

Dimitri van den Bergh vs. Gary Anderson

These two first met in a World Series event, the German Masters semi-final in 2018. Van den Bergh won that 8-7 and it was the first time he really made his mark at senior level. Overall, their H2H record is 3-2 to Van den Bergh and on stage, 3-1.

Dimitri didn’t impress in his 6-4 over Johan Engström last night. He only averaged 90 and the Swede missed darts to go 5-4 up and missed darts to tie the match at 5-5. Van den Bergh was a little lucky and he will have to improve significantly this afternoon.

Gary Anderson was also quite poor in his 6-3 win over Andreas Toft Jørgensen. He averaged 95.4 but his doubling was poor, and he was helped by his opponent averaging 81 and looking every bit the part timer. We can perhaps forgive Anderson for being rusty. Two months off and just two days practice last week. He doesn’t take the game seriously anymore outside of the majors and Premier League, but with Price gone, he can see a path to another final and enough money to have made the trip worthwhile.

Van den Bergh may be the better player nowadays and the more professional, but he was poor last night, very poor in the World Cup and just looks out of sorts.

Nordic Darts Quarter Finals Tip: 1 point Gary Anderson to win @ 2.50 with Unibet

Peter Wright vs. Jonny Clayton

A match worthy of a final. Their overall H2H record is 8-3 to Wright but they have met five times in 2021 and the score is 2-2 with a PL draw. That form is more relevant as Clayton is a much improved player in the last 12 months. Clayton won their World Cup semi-final match, 4-2, but it was a poor affair with Clayton averaging 90.9, Wright 88.2. Hopefully it will be better today.

Wright is in very good form of late, but he didn’t get out of first gear last night, averaging 88.6 in a 6-1 win over Marko Kantele. Clayton on the other hand showed no mercy to his local opponent Ivan Springborg Poulsen, winning 6-0 and averaging 99.1. What was more impressive than his average was his doubling. He has been weak in that area recently, but he hit 6 from 11. If he keeps that up and improves his scoring, he will be hard to beat. Peter Wright is capable of a lot better, but Clayton looks the value bet here.

Nordic Darts Quarter Finals: 1 point Jonny Clayton to win @ 2.60 with Unibet

Michael van Gerwen vs. Madars Razma

We were a bit unlucky not to get the winning bet for Labanauskas to beat MVG last night. Labanauskas missed darts to go 2-1 up but despite poor scoring he got the match to 5-4. His lack of fire power got found out in the end and MVG blasted 13 and 15 dart legs to win 6-5. It was a 97 average for MVG, ten points better than Labanauskas but it still went to a deciding leg. That says a lot about Labanauskas’s effectiveness, but also MVG’s inability to squash a weaker player.

Razma did land the bet to beat Nathan Aspinall. It was a good quality match, the best of the night. Razma averaged 95.8 to Aspinall’s 96. Razma missed darts to go 4-1 up and Aspinall took advantage to make a comeback and tie the match 3-3. The momentum appeared to have shifted to Aspinall but to his credit, Razma dug deep and found good darts to win 6-4. He should have won more easily and his doubling needs to improve, but his attitude was good.

Their H2H record is 2-1 to MVG and on stage 1-0, with a 6-4 win on the Euro Tour.

Van Gerwen will be aware that with the favourite out of the tournament, his odds of a first win in 2021 have improved. Will that inspire him, or will he maybe try too hard? Winning is becoming difficult for him and he might get tight if Razma can stick with him.

Michael van Gerwen is the 1.22 favourite with Razma a 5.25 shot. MVG is worth taking on at those odds these days and Razma will be up for this match.

Nordic Darts Quarter Finals: 1 point Madars Razma to win @ 5.25 with Spreadex

-JamesPunt