Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen will be hoping to make a strong start to his Champions League campaign as he prepares to play several Group 3 matches. The 31-year-old has been in decent form of late and he was last in action on December 22 as he qualified for the German Masters. He beat Li Yuan 5-3 before then overcoming Rod Lawler 5-2 and he can now play in the tournament that starts at the end of January.
Before that, Allen reached the fourth round of the UK Championship and he will be confident of a good start to his Champions League campaign. He opens his tournament with a match against Tom Ford and Allen is 1/2 to win, with his England opponent 6/4 with Dafabet. The world No.8 will then do battle with Allister Carter before meeting Anthony Hamilton, where he is the 4/9 favourite to win. Carter also has a big day ahead of him as he tries to change his fortunes after a tough few weeks. The 38-year-old failed to qualify for the German Masters and he only reached the second round of the Scottish Open.
The world No.13 was dumped out of the UK Championship in the first round by Jimmy White but he gets the chance to make amends this week. Carter faces Allen, Ford and Kyren Wilson and his match against could be a cracker in his final outing. Both players are priced at 5/6 to win as a close encounter is expected at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.
Championship League odds available at Dafabet.