The knockout stages of the Grand Slam of Darts begin on Wednesday night when the bottom half of the draw plays down to the quarter finals on what could be an extremely competitive night of darts the way things have worked out.
There is a perception and belief that the tournament starts properly now the format increases and that certainly makes it a lot easier betting wise so we’re hoping for a good few days to finish the event with from here on in.
Dave Chisnall vs Ryan Harrington
The first match of the knockout stage of the tournament sees one of the favourites to win it from here on in, Dave Chisnall, meet potentially the outsider of the remaining 16 players in Ryan Harrington for a quarter final place.
Chisnall has been in good form for a while now, especially this week where he won all three matches in his group with a barrage of heavy scoring and solid finishing, highlighting the confidence he has built over recent times. Harrington in contrast has done well to come through, especially as he needed to come through the qualifiers to make it into this tournament. In terms of his average though, he has got progressive worse as the week has gone on which is a concern. I expect Chisnall to win the match but the prices are all a little short on the markets of interest or the lines are a touch big so I’ll leave this one alone.
Gabriel Clemens vs Glen Durrant
The second match of the night sees Gabriel Clemens going up against Glen Durrant for a spot in the quarter finals in a contest where the odds are a lot closer than you would have predicted at the start of the tournament.
The reason for that is because Clemens dominated a group which saw him win all three matches including a victory over Daryl Gurney along the way. In contrast to that, Durrant hasn’t looked anything like his best so far, averaging less than 90 in his last two matches so he is definitely going to need to raise his game if he is going to overcome the German giant here.
I’ve a feeling that Clemens might be a good thing here but I’m equally confident that the extended format will bring the better form out of Durrant, so I’m expecting a pretty close match here. This looks like one of those matches which could go all the way if Clemens retains his form so over 16.5 legs looks the way forward to me here.
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Michael Smith vs Daryl Gurney
When you look at the Wednesday card, one of the best matches of the night is the third one on the schedule as Michael Smith takes on Daryl Gurney in a clash between two of the very best in the game right now.
Smith dominated a group which was dubbed the ‘Group of Death’ heading into the tournament, putting together three wins and a couple of special performances and is looking close to his best once again. We didn’t see the best of Gurney in the group stage but I suspect that was down to the format and the pressure that comes with it.
These two are serial 180 hitters, especially when they meet each other. In the Premier League earlier in the season they combined for seven 180s in 12 legs and eight in 11 legs so they know the way round the 60 against each other. Both are vulnerable on the doubles and whoever hits them the better will win this but I prefer over 10.5 180s in what should be a close match.
Peter Wright vs Rob Cross
In terms of rankings the pick of the matches on the fifth night of the competition is the one between Peter Wright and Rob Cross, a clash in which the winner of it will be fairly warm order when it comes to going on and winning the tournament.
Wright is in this match courtesy of winning his group in pretty dominant order, albeit it wasn’t the toughest section there has been in this competition whereas Cross fell over the line in his group to make it through to the knockout stages. He was quick to point out that he hates the group format so we should expect him to be a lot better in this last 16 clash, but he will need to be because we’ve not seen the best of him so far.
Wright won their last meeting at the Champions League of Darts but prior to that the colourful Scot had won just one of their eight tussles so the recent record is with Cross. Five of those matches were this year too. The biggest margin of victory in their five clashes this year has been three legs and I don’t see a lot changing here so over 16.5 legs is enough for me in this one.
Tips
WON – Back G.Clemens vs G.Durrant – Over 16.5 legs for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Sky Bet
Back P.Wright vs R.Cross – Over 16.5 legs for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Sky Bet
Back M.Smith – Over 10.5 180s for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Coral
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