Sport
Players Championship Finals Preview
We are in touching distance of the William Hill World Championship but first we’ll see who’s crowned Players Championship Finals champion.
Michael van Gerwen is the most accomplished player in the tournament, having won this a record six times, and is the reigning champion after beating Mervyn King in a closely fought affair last year.
In this blog, we take a look at the market leaders and identify who could have a big tournament.
The Iceman’s aiming for maiden title
Gerwyn Price has built up a glittering trophy cabinet during his short darting career but is yet to lay his hands on this one. He looked red-hot when winning the Grand Slam of Darts for the third time in four years last weekend and made his semi-final fixture against James Wade and the final against Peter Wright look like the easiest games of the tournament. It was a statement to the darting world that he wants to win back-to-back World Championships (he’s the 10/3 favourite) and on that form, he certainly can.
Although not winning the tournament before, he’s certainly come close. He reached the final in 2019 where he was narrowly beaten by Michael van Gerwen in a very close game. The world number one goes into the tournament as the 7/2 favourite. His first game of the tournament comes against Jason Lowe, a match he’s 1/7 to win and 11/20 to hit the most 180s.
He should progress through his opening round match and winning the title would be the perfect set-up for the World Championship.
MVG bidding for his seventh success
As mentioned above, Mighty Mike is the most successful player in the tournament’s history with a staggering six titles. To add to this, he’s been in the final a total of seven times, only losing once – a staggering 86% success rate when reaching that stage.
Many fancied him to go on to win the Grand Slam after setting a record 115.19 average against Joe Cullen in the group stages but, it was not to be after being knocked out by a flying Michael Smith in the quarterfinals.
After suffering a less than desirable start to the year, Van Gerwen seems to be edging back to his best and is unplayable when on form. He certainly has a chance if he can produce the performances that we saw in the past 14 days. He plays Kevin Doets in his opening game, which he’s 1/8 to progress from, and is 9/2 to go on a win the tournament.
Clayton wants fifth TV Title
Johnny Clayton continues to impress in every tournament he plays in but was knocked out early in the Grand Slam after running into eventual winner Gerwyn Price. Having already picked up four TV Tiles this year, the Ferret is enjoying the most successful period in his career and is another who is unplayable on his day. He’s a live shot for the World Championships in December (6/1) and is third-favourite to win the Players Championship Finals for the first time in his career (11/2).
He plays Alan Tabern in his opening fixture of the tournament, a game that you’d expect him to breeze through (1/10).
Ones to watch
Raymond van Barneveld was back on our TV scenes during the Grand Slam of Darts, but unfortunately, the dream didn’t last too long as he exited in the group stages. He can hold his head up high, though, as losing to Michael Smith and Gary Anderson, both of which were throwing the best darts they have in a long time, is no disappointment. Barney was throwing great darts himself, averaging 96.24 across his three games. He’s a long shot to win the title at 125/1, but if he takes one game at a time he could certainly go further than many would expect.
Another who impressed in the Grand Slam was Michael Smith. He looked like a man on a mission when topping his group and then went on to knock out Joe Cullen and MVG before succumbing to Peter Wright in the semis. He’s upped his game based on those performances and could go deep into this competition. Bully Boy is 20/1 to win his maiden Players Championship Finals.
