International - PDC European Championship 2025
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by Devesh Jaganath | in Darts Predictions
Luke Littler will get his European Darts Championship 2025 campaign underway against veteran Raymond van Barneveld on Friday night. The winner of this match between the Nuke and Barney will face either James Wade or Mike De Decker in round two. Let’s get into the match prediction.
Luke Littler will be out to right the wrong of last year’s European Darts Championship, where he suffered a rare first-round elimination, losing 6-4 to Andrew Gilding.
This year, the Nuke has already racked up several major titles, including the World Championship, World Matchplay, and a couple of European titles, among others.
In the lead-up to this competition, Littler clinched the World Grand Prix on October 12 and followed up with winning the Players Championship 32 just three days later. He has only lost three of his last 20 matches.
Meanwhile, Raymond van Barneveld also bowed out in the first round of this competition last year and comes into this year’s tournament as the 29th seed, four places down from 2024.
A combination of age and health issues has seen Barney struggle to make much of an impact this year. He has not won a major title in 2025, and has not won back-to-back games in the last month.
Van Barneveld lost to Jonny Clayton in the second round of the German Darts Championship last week, which was his seventh loss in his last 10 matches.
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Luke Littler - Raymond van Barneveld Key Points
- Luke Littler is the number two-ranked player in the world.
- Luke Littler has won two titles this month.
- Luke Littler has won 17 of his last 20 matches in all competitions.
- Luke Littler has won two of his three all-time matches against this opponent.
- Raymond van Barneveld has lost seven of his last 10 matches.
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Our Luke Littler vs Raymond van Barneveld Prediction
Raymond van Barneveld has endured a difficult year and now has to face the most in-form player in the world, which certainly does not bode well for his chances of getting to the second round.
Indeed, Luke Littler has been nothing short of sensational this year, and he comes into this competition having just won the World Grand Prix and Players Championship 32 in the space of a couple of weeks. Our Luke Littler vs Raymond van Barneveld prediction is Luke Littler -2.5.
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Try your luck on this year's PDC European Championship 2025! You need to make your qualifying bet of €/£10 within 30 days of opening an account and this can be on any sport with at least one selection priced at 1.2 (1/5) or bigger.
All tips are fully researched and given in good faith, but profits cannot be guaranteed.
