His participation in the European Darts Trophy is perhaps a little uncertain having played through the pain with his gout making it difficult to walk, especially with this tournament taking place in Germany and perhaps not being an ideal time to travel.
Of course the form through the first two and a half months of the 2026 season has been at such a level that Clayton would love to keep things going and he is not due out until Saturday when the Second Round is played.
Luke Humphries had a productive night in Nottingham, although one that did not end with the Nightly win even after beating Luke Littler and Gian van Veen earlier in the evening.
The Polish Open was won by Littler, but he is not involved this weekend and Luke Humphries has to be amongst the favourites, even at a time when his doubling has been letting him down.
The European Darts Trophy looks like it is wide open this week with Humphries down as a 4-1 favourite, but plenty of the big names are expected to be involved in Germany and it should be three strong days for the fans to enjoy.
The First Round will be played across two sessions on Friday before the same situation for the Second Round on Saturday.
Third Round matches will be completed in the Day Session on Sunday before the traditional ending to the European Tour events with all of the Quarter Final, Semi Final and Final matches played in the Evening Session to produce the second winner on this circuit.
Later this month the Belgian Darts Open will also be played as the European Tour 3 event is scheduled to be played and so it is a very busy time for the biggest names in the PDC with Premier League Nights also to be played on Thursday over the next couple of months.
Ricky Evans & Cameron Menzies double: The Afternoon Session features a number of decent players, but there are some close matches to call and picking these two looks the best approach to take to the eight games scheduled.
Ricky Evans played pretty well at the World Championships, but he has not been able to build on that in 2026 and suffered a relatively early defeat in the UK Open.
However, he should still have enough to beat Florian Preis in the First Round, even if the latter is going to be given plenty of crowd support.
Doubling up Ricky Evans with Cameron Menzies is slightly risky when you think of some of the recent performances offered up by the latter.
A hand injury inflicted on himself has proved to be a big problem for Menzies, but he did come through a couple of Rounds at the Polish Darts Open last month and Paul Krohne may not have enough to use the crowd and land a spot in the Second Round.
Dirk van Duijvenbode & Wessel Nijman double: A double from the Evening Session puts together a couple of Dutchman who should have enough to progress into the Second Round.
Dirk van Duijvenbode has slipped to the World Number 29 position and has been very inconsistent this season, but he faces someone who is struggling much more than himself.
After a decent enough start to the season, Mario Vandenbogaerde has lost his last six matches in a row and some of those have been in close defeats.
This all adds to the mental challenges when it comes to late Legs, and DvD may have too much scoring for him at critical times in this First Round match.
A fellow Dutchman has been in fine form on the floor and Wessel Nijman had a strong run at the Polish Darts Open- there is still more to come from him and he can edge past Cristo Reyes who is a player that can make strides up the World Ranking in the weeks and months ahead.
However, Nijman looks capable of squeezing past him here in Germany in what should be a quality match to end the session.
Kai Gotthardt v Nico Springer: The best of eleven Leg format is always open for an upset or two to occur and Kai Gotthardt can back up some solid form at the UK Open by getting the better of his compatriot in Germany.
These two actually met last week in Minehead and it was Gotthardt who edged past Nico Springer, while the familiarity with this opponent should allow the underdog to settle into this First Round match.
It should be noted that Gotthardt had shown little form going into the UK Open, but those wins will have done him the world of good.
Nico Springer is very talented, but he has just hit a slump in form with three straight defeats under his belt- he has been a little inconsistent on the Tour this year and suffered an early loss at European Tour 1 last month.
This is likely going to be a close match in front of the home fans, but Kai Gotthardt looks a big price to edge through to the Saturday Second Round.
MY PICKS: Ricky Evans & Cameron Menzies Double @ 2.64 Bet365 (1 Unit)
Dirk van Duijvenbode & Wessel Nijman @ 1.82 Bet365 (1 Unit)
Kai Gotthardt @ 2.50 Sky Bet (1 Unit)
Darts 2026: 29-37, - 2.87 Units (65 Units Staked, - 4.42% Yield)
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