2024 European Championship Darts – Day 1 Tips
Tips from Day 1 of the European Championship Darts in Dortmund, Germany
Lewis Watson 
All eyes are on Dortmund this week as the culmination of weeks of European Tour action heads to the Westfalenhallen.
32 of the best performers in Europe will slug it out in Germany for one of the most sought after possessions on the PDC circuit, and their slice of a whopping £600,000 prize fund.
Day 1 features a real who’s who of the darting world and we’re focussing on three games including three former world champions...
Let’s take a look at Day 1 tips from the European Championship in Dortmund, plus the top darts betting offers from the best betting sites.
2024 European Championship Darts Tips
Check out our expert darts tips for the Thursday evening action at the 2024 European Championship.
Stephen Bunting vs Gary Anderson – Over 9.5 legs
Both Stephen Bunting and Gary Anderson will be pleased with their form coming into the European Championship, so it’s sod’s law that they have drawn each other in a week where they will both have aspirations of going the distance.
Neither man has won this title, but Anderson came the closest by losing a last-leg shootout to Michael van Gerwen back in the Dutchman’s dominant days of 2015.
If both men find their rhythm early then the 180s should flow here, but there won’t be much time for that in an 11-leg shootout.
We’re backing these two to be glued together until the last few legs, opening up value in the over 9.5 legs market.
Michael van Gerwen -2.5 handicap vs Gabriel Clemens
MVG won four titles back-to-back-to-back-to-back between 2014-2017, but has only reached the final once since this dominant period.
He’s a different player these days but has still proved he has that muscle memory of winning titles by bagging Players Championship and European Tour titles over the last couple of months.
Gabriel Clemens is a man MVG has beaten seven times in eight meetings and it’s unlikely that the big German is going to lay a glove on “Mighty Mike” despite playing in front of a home crowd.
Five of those seven wins came by a buffer of four or more legs, so we’re expecting something similar on Thursday.
Dave Chisnall to beat Michael Smith 6-5
Dave Chisnall is one of our outsider dark horses for the title in Dortmund, but if he is to go deep in the tournament, then he is going to have to ride his luck against players that are ranked higher than him.
Michael Smith is one of those players, and despite being number two in the world, “Bully Boy” has had a pretty patchy season.
One semi-final outing in eight European Tour events is pretty average reading for the 2023 world champion, and an on-song “Chizzy” can certainly prevail.
Smith leads 3-2 in the recent head-to-heads, but Chisnall will take confidence in the tournaments he has bested his mate from St. Helens, notably at the World Matchplay and Masters.
6-5 to Chisnall in a thriller is well priced.
Top Darts Betting Offers & Free Bets
Check out the best free bets and betting offers available this week.
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