The semi-finals of the PDC World Darts Championship takes place on Saturday evening as the four remaining men look to make their way into the final of the biggest competition in the calendar inside the Alexandra Palace in London.
The competition opened right up with the demise of Michael van Gerwen in the quarter finals on Friday night and all four players who are left will now firmly believe they can pick up the Sid Waddell Trophy on Sunday evening.
Stephen Bunting vs Gerwyn Price
The opening semi-final sees two men who are looking for their first PDC world title battling out for what would be a place in their maiden final of this competition when the former Lakeside champion Stephen Bunting takes on a Gerwyn Price who is chasing not just the title but also the number one spot in the world rankings.
Bunting has grown in confidence in the last few weeks and the way he dealt with Krzysztof Ratajski in the last eight was very impressive indeed. Price on the other hand has had to really battle his way through to this stage and you wonder if he has had one battle too many. He has also had a few flat spots in the tournament that he might not be able to afford here. When you think that has come when he hasn’t been the tournament favourite, it will be interesting to see if he is weighed down more by that expectation.
There is absolutely nothing between these two men in the statistics in this tournament. Just 0.02 separates them in the tournament average and although Price has a 5% better checkout percentage he has played fewer legs. What does interest me is that Bunting’s average has gone up with each match that he has played whereas Price has dropped from his second game onwards. That suggests Bunting is warming to the task nicely whereas Price is beginning to feel the pinch.
I respect Price’s fighting ability and it might well be that he comes out on top in a close match but Bunting certainly looks like he has the tools to run him deep and given that he is playing with a little more freedom here having already exceeded pre-tournament expectations, I wouldn’t be completely surprised if the former Lakeside winner wins this match. Whether he does or he doesn’t there is more than enough in the stats and what we’ve seen with our own eyes to suggest that Bunting with the 2.5 sets start is the way to go here.
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Dave Chisnall vs Gary Anderson
The second semi-final sees two of the heaviest scorers in the game going at it when Dave Chisnall looks to book his place in a first PDC World Championship final when he takes on Gary Anderson who is now two wins from a third world title.
Chisnall goes into this semi-final off the back of arguably his two best ever performances but the big question for him now is whether he can back up that display against Michael van Gerwen less than 24 hours later. That is a genuine question too because we see time and time again that players knock off the top dog but the emotional strain that takes leaves little in the tank the next time. Anderson has gone under the radar for a lot of this tournament but he bubbled to the boil very nicely in his last eight win against Dirk van Duijvenbode and looks to be improving with every match.
This should be a pearler of a semi-final. These two met here in the quarter final in 2017 when Anderson won 5-3 in a match that had 33 180s and was one of the best watches this stage has ever produced. The 180 count might not be as high here because Anderson isn’t ploughing them in as much but the contest should be equally as good and I expect the result to be the same too. Clearly if Chisnall plays to the level he did against van Gerwen then Anderson has got an issue but there is more to come from the Scot and it would be an amazing feat for Chisnall to be that good again so while Anderson has some catching up to do in the tournament average ranks I do expect the two to meet in the middle. It then comes to who will be more clinical in the key moments and I’ve got to think that Anderson will have the edge there.
I’m a little surprised that we can get a 13.5 180 line on Chisnall in this match though. He hit 14 in five sets against van Gerwen and there is every chance we get twice that amount of sets here. When the two met in that quarter final in 2017, Chisnall accounted for 21 of those 33 180s so not only does he have recent form in the 180 department, he has previous on this stage in this contest too. I still expect Chisnall to lose the match but over 9+ sets there should be ample time for him to account for another 14 maximums.
Tips
WON – Back S.Bunting (+2.5 sets) to beat G.Price for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Coral
Back him here:
WON – Back G.Anderson to beat D.Chisnall for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with Betfair
Back him here:
Back D.Chisnall – Over 13.5 180s for a 3/10 stake at 1.90 with 888sport
Back him here:
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