European Championship darts: free tips, predictions and where to watch

Free darts tips, odds and predictions for the Unibet European Championship darts in Gottingen, Germany, with Michael van Gerwen, Peter Wright, Rob Cross and Mensur Suljovic among the favourites.

Where to watch

ITV4, from 6pm Thursday

Best bets

Michael van Gerwen to win the tournament
3pts 11-8 general
Gerwyn Price to win fourth quarter
1pt 3-1 Sky Bet

European Championship darts preview

The historic University of Gottingen once housed the top mathematics and physics faculty in the world, and had any of the eight esteemed professors who led it got a chance to crunch the numbers for the 2019 European Championship darts, which starts in the small German city on Thursday, they would likely have reached the same conclusion.

Michael van Gerwen won this title four years in a row until last year, when he was beaten by Steve West in the second round. He's favourite to get his crown back and he's in sensational form, having won the World Grand Prix and Champions League of Darts over the last two weeks.

Mighty Mike survived three match darts against Peter Wright in the final of the Champions League in Leicester last week when trailing 10-7, but won the last four legs to take the title.

It was a similar story in the semi, when Gerwyn Price was throwing for the match in the final leg, but MVG landed the knockout blow.

Those wins tells you everything you need to know about his character and the reason why he has now won 51 televised titles. While others can blow hot and cold, Van Gerwen never doubts himself.

Even MVG wins does not win all the time - he was knocked out of the Ladbrokes UK Open and Betfred World Matchplay events in the early stages - but as the darts season prepares for its peak he appears to be a dominant as ever, prompting him to say: "To anyone who wrote me off, I'm back".

Van Gerwen averaged over 100 in all of his Champions League matches and few in the field, who are made up of the top 32 players from the European Tour events, can live with him.

And even if they can raise their game to his level, his ice-cool temperament on the doubles and the fear factor that surrounds him gives him a huge advantage.

Defending champion James Wade is 28-1 and the man he beat in last year's final Simon Whitlock is 125-1, but neither has done much recently to suggest they will be in contention, while 2017 world champion Rob Cross has also been struggling. He lost all three of his Champions League group matches and is in the same quarter as Van Gerwen.

A player who could go deep is Gerwyn Price. He looks a good bet to win a wide-open fourth quarter which also features Mensur Suljovic, Nathan Aspinall and Krzysztof Ratajski.

Price was the only player other than Van Gerwen to average above 100 in the Champions League group stage and was eliminated in the semi despite averaging 102. He fell at the first hurdle against Stephen Bunting at the Matchplay, but has a nice opener against Ted Evetts which should build his confidence.

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