Darts Betting Tips: Check out our boosted double for Day 1 in Blackpool

On of the biggest events in darts is back this weekend, as the legendary Betfred World Matchplay rolls into Blackpool. 

To celebrate our continued headline sponsorship, we've boosted our star darts tipster Sean Rafferty's selections and will continue to do daily throughout the tournament!

Niko Springer +5.5 legs handicap vs Luke Littler @ 8/13

This is a pretty appetising contest to headline the opening night of action in the Winter Gardens and perhaps more of a banana skin for Littler than people expect it to be. We haven’t actually seen a great deal of Luke in recent months as he’s chose to skip recent Euro Tour events and continues to ignore the Pro Tour completely. Outwith the Premier League, he’s played in just three events since the UK Open. It’s obviously a deliberate decision as he looks to manage his schedule and reserve his energy for the biggest tournaments.

I suspect Littler may have jumped onto the practice board after seeing how Springer played on the Euro Tour last weekend in Leverkusen - the German came up short against Gian Van Veen in the last 32 but went down fighting with a 103 average in defeat. He was equally if not more impressive on Friday night as he brushed aside Darius Labanauskas 6-2 with an average in excess of 105. So his game looks in pretty good shape heading into his World Matchplay debut.

The fact it is his debut could play a factor, there may be nerves but I find that Springer tends to get the best out of his game in-front of the big crowds and against the better players. We seen Littler gift many early leads to his opponents in last year’s Matchplay, he perhaps gets a bit complacent in the early goings with it being a longer format and if he’s going to have a sloppy performance, it tends to come in the opening couple of rounds. Meenzer Bub could make this an uncomfortable night for The Nuke if he can come flying out the traps.

Nathan Aspinall to win vs Joe Cullen @ 4/7

This is probably a fixture that neither player would have wanted ideally, as they have to put their friendship aside to try and come out on top in this crucial match-up. Aspinall is another who we haven’t seen a great deal of in recent months, having had a busy time of it in his personal life and also just deciding to skip the majority of the Pro Tour events and concentrate on the Euro Tour and majors, a strategy that seems to working it out just fine for him so far, having won another Euro Tour event back in April. There was a hint of dartitis troubles creeping back in for The Asp in Leverkusen last weekend, but he’s so good at overcoming it that I honestly don’t see it as too much of a red flag.

It’s been a mixed bag of results and performances again for Cullen this year as he continues to search for a bit more consistency so he can try and begin to climb back up the rankings. He has played fairly well in recent weeks so could well pose a threat to Asp, but his lack of big stage exposure in the last year or two could work against The Rockstar in this one. He has won his opening round match in five of his last six visits to Blackpool, so could take some beating.

The head-to-head is a big talking point in this fixture - Aspinall has been utterly dominant in recent years, winning all of their last seven meetings. It does give you the impression that Nathan may be better at shutting out the fact he’s playing against a good friend and having to go all the way back to February 2021 for Cullen’s last victory over Asp doesn’t fill you with confidence about his chances. With the far superior record and generally being the more reliable player of the two, Aspinall looks a solid bet to win and we know if it’s tight that he’ll dig in if required.

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