European Championship 2025 Predictions: The Price is right for Gerwyn

I’ve kept away from Price more recently, after the disappointment of losing a match he was in control of against Luke Littler at the World Series Finals, I thought there may be a bit of a hangover from that. All in all, he’s done OK since - another match was lost from a position of control against Littler, this time at the World Grand Prix where he lost 3-2, having had a two sets lead. He played some decent stuff against Ryan Searle and Josh Rock before that to reach the quarters. He’s only played in Hildesheim on the Euro Tour since then, averaging over a ton in both matches he played.

The good news for Price this week is that Littler isn’t in the same half of the draw, so he can’t face the World Champion until the final, if at all. I really fancy Gezzy to come through the quartet which as well as himself, includes Daryl Gurney, Ross Smith and Peter Wright. None of the three are pulling up any trees at the moment - he faces Gurney first up, who he’s beat five of the last seven times they’ve played. Smith and Wright have had a lot of ropey performances over the past month or so, so I’d fancy The Iceman to get the better of either of them.

One thing he’s definitely improved on this year is taking defeats better and recovering from them quicker. He seems to be more upbeat despite not having everything his own way and is happy off the oche which helps. For that reason, despite a few crunch defeats in recent times to Littler, I think he’ll brush that off and have a big weekend. Here’s hoping he meets Van Veen in the semis.

This was an easy choice again. We backed Gian at the World Grand Prix where he played phenomenally well but walked into a sensational performance from Littler in the opening round. Had he got through that, I truly believe he would have had a great chance of winning the whole thing.

The deep runs are becoming all the more frequent, the only thing frustrating him will be the lack of silverware he’s had to show for the brilliant form he’s been in. Once again, he was in the business end of a tournament this past week in Hildesheim - he reached the semis where he faced a devastating defeat at the hands of Nathan Aspinall, who he led 4-0 and 6-3, before losing four legs on the spin in a 7-6 defeat.

For many players, they’d stew on a disappointment like that for a number of weeks. Gian doesn’t fit into that category I don’t believe, I’ve spoken a number of times already about his maturity and how well he conducts himself - I think he’ll take it on the chin and move on very quickly. A prime example of that from earlier this year was when he lost to Joe Cullen in a Pro

Tour final from a winning position, he was devastated at the end of that but came back the following day and won the event. He has that bounce-back ability which is a great quality to have.

It was the European Championship where Gian really made his breakthrough in terms of televised events, he reached the semi-finals here in 2023 and I’d say that in his time on tour so far, he appears to enjoy most of his success in legs format as opposed to sets. He plays Damon Heta first up, who seems to be struggling a bit at the moment. This would be followed by a tie against Searle or Clayton, Clayton has put in a few below-par performances recently and if he comes through that then he’d be a comfortable favourite to win his quarter-final match.

It’s a matter of time until GVV wins his first televised event and this looks like one of, if not the best chance he’s had yet.

It had crossed my mind to desert this quarter altogether, finding it hard to make claims for anyone outside the “big two” in Littler and Humphries, it’s safe to say this is the quarter of death. Having said that, I do think Wade is worth a small stake to upset the odds and come through this quarter. He’s often the forgotten man, as he likes to remind us very often, despite all his achievements in the game.

It’s a daunting task as after what looks like an inviting opener against Mike De Decker, he’s probably going to face Luke Littler. Although this seems like a solid task in a more lengthy first to 10 legs match, let’s not forget he caused Littler problems in the World Matchplay final this year and led that match 5-0 at one stage. Things could go differently to how some think it will go and if he topples Littler he could end up with a very winnable tie against Gary Anderson or Cameron Menzies.

It’s a tournament he’s enjoyed great success at, reaching the final in three of the last seven years. A lot will have to go his way this week but never rule out The Machine, I think he’s worth a stab at 10/1.