The 2017 World Matchplay darts final will take place inside the Winter Gardens in Blackpool on Sunday night and it promises to be a fantastic occasion as Phil Taylor goes in search of title number 16 in his final match on this famous stage.
He takes on a Peter Wright who is in his first Matchplay final and looking for the biggest title of his career. He could also be the man to deny Taylor a fairy tale ending to his Blackpool career. The best-of-35 leg final is nicely set up.
Phil Taylor
We went into this tournament wondering what Phil Taylor had left in his career. He dodged Las Vegas to prepare for this competition and that is looking a masterstroke now having made the final without really being pushed at any stage despite one of the hardest draws he could have had to make it this far.
Taylor has faced Raymond Barneveld, Michael van Gerwen and Adrian Lewis in the last three rounds. All three were expected to run him close and even beat him and he has brushed them all aside without them reaching double figures making him a real favourite for this final. His scoring has been very impressive and his finishing not far behind.
Peter Wright
If Phil Taylor has been impressive Peter Wright has been the total opposite. Apart from one match against Cristo Reyes he has been made to work hard and really had to battle his way into this final. He will be hoping he has enough left in the tank to compete here but he will have used a lot of mental reserves getting this far.
Wright has found his scoring hard to come by and apart from that win over Reyes his finishing has been nothing like we’ve become accustomed to. His double hitting against Daryl Gurney in the semi-final was little short of a shambles at times and if he is not clinical in this final you would think he has little chance of winning.
Head to Head
This will be the 34th time these two have faced off in their career. Phil Taylor has 20 wins but Wright has 10 and there have been three previous draws. Wright has won four of their last six battles all of which were on TV in events like the Grand Slam and Premier League so Wright certainly knows he can beat Taylor.
[the_ad_group id=”3624″]
Betting
Peter Wright may know he can beat Phil Taylor but I’m not so sure he is going to do it here. Wright is not hitting the 180s that we are used to him hitting and in three of his four matches so far he has barely averaged 100. He sneaked over that mark with a late surge against Darren Webster but twice in the tournament his average has been down under 94. Clearly that won’t get it done here.
Arguably more worryingly for Wright his doubling has been under 50% three times in the tournament and in two of those matches he has been down to 30% and under. If he passes up the few chances he gets in this final he is not going to last very long.
For me the biggest danger to Taylor is his own emotions and if he can keep them in check I expect him to win another major title with a little bit to spare. Taylor will have all of the crowd support and that can make a difference if this final is close at any time. I can’t resist Taylor by more than 2.5 legs.
Tips
WON – Back P.Taylor (-2.5 legs) to beat P.Wright for a 6/10 stake at 1.83 with William Hill
Back him here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2017
