The first half of the Grand Slam of Darts groups conclude on Monday night and by the end of the evening inside the Wolverhampton Civic Hall we will know the last 16 line up in the bottom half of the draw.
Gary Anderson and Glen Durrant have already booked their paths into the knockout stage but there are six places left to be filled and a number of players looking to secure them. There are equations galore heading into what is likely to be a dramatic night of darts.
First Four Matches
Group H gets the action underway and we begin with one of two dead rubbers on the evening. That sees an already qualified Gary Anderson taking on a Simon Whitlock who knows he can no longer qualify. The second match of the night comes from that group and will be a straight knockout between Berry van Peer and Cameron Menzies.
We then head to Group E which is the other group which contains a dead rubber. That is the third match of the night when Glen Durrant rounds off his group stage with a match against Corey Cadby. Durrant knows he is through while Cadby is already out. The following match sees Peter Wright taking on Alan Norris in what is a straight knockout.
Later Four Matches
It is all about Group G as we head into the second half of the evening. Michael Smith has the chance to secure his qualification if he can deliver a big win from his match against Mark McGeeney. If that happens all sorts of mathematical equations are in play when Mensur Suljovic takes on James Wilson but we know the Austrian will be through if he wins.
The last group to be played out on the night is Group F and that begins with Dave Chisnall taking on Jeffrey de Zwaan. Chisnall will give himself a good chance of progressing with a win while de Zwaan puts himself in the mix if he can win by a fair margin. Stephen Bunting knows he is through if he beats Scott Mitchell in the final match of the night but a big win will send Mitchell through. He may not need that if there is not a big winner in the other match in the group. This one is complicated!
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Betting
With certain players looking at a certain number of legs to progress as an immediate priority this is not a night to go smashing to pieces. With different focuses in different places an air of caution must be advised. I’m going with two bets.
Michael Smith has the chance to lay something of a target down for the other two in the group. The more legs he beats Mark McGeeney by the better his chances of qualifying are and if he can win really big he could yet win the group. We all know McGeeney is a good player but he has really struggled this week and even at his best he would have his work cut out against a Smith who is playing really well. Smith has averaged 97.13 and 100.79 so far compared to McGeeney’s 81.03 and 85.22. That’s a lot to find for a match he has no qualification chances from and I don’t think he’ll find it. I expect Smith to win no worse than 5-2 here.
Jeffrey de Zwaan has hit five 180s in both of his matches so far so I am slightly surprised that he is odds against to hit more than 2.5 in his match with Dave Chisnall. He beat Chisnall last time out so we know he is not scared of him which should see him relax into his play and if he is to have any chance here then he is going to have to score well because Chisnall certainly will. De Zwaan has looked really good in the scoring all week so I’ll take him to nail three more maximums on Monday night.
Tips
Back M.Smith (-2.5 legs) to beat M.McGeeney for a 4/10 stake at 2.25 with Betfair
Back him here:
Back J.de Zwaan – Over 2.5 180s for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with Paddy Power
Back him here:
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