The final of the World Grand Prix is an all-Welsh affair as the world champion Gerwyn Price takes on his World Cup teammate Jonny Clayton for the big prize inside the Morningside Arena in Leicester on Saturday evening.
These two men are no longer any strangers to winning televised titles with Price having won the biggest one in the game to begin the year and Clayton arguably the next biggest having claimed the Premier League crown back in May.
Gerwyn Price
The world number one and world champion Gerwyn Price is looking to join an illustrious club in this final. Only Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen have ever successfully defended this title and he could be the third member of that gang if he wins here, having won the title last year. In the early stages of the week it looked like this event was going to be a procession for Price but the last two rounds have seen him struggle much more than we might have expected.
Price came through the opening round against Michael Smith in fine style and then eased past Mervyn King in the second round despite dropping the first set. He thrashed Dave Chisnall 3-0 in the quarter final but put in his worst performance of the week in that match, before coming from 2-0 down to Stephen Bunting to beat him 4-2 in the semi-final. So far the toughest opponent for Price has been the crowd but you would think he’ll need more of his form of earlier in the week rather than the latter in this final.
Jonny Clayton
There aren’t many players who have won three TV titles in the same year with more events to come to add to that but that is the reward which awaits Jonny Clayton should be come out on top in this final. This would probably be the most important of those wins because it would be his first televised ranking event title whereas The Masters and Premier League crowns he has already landed were both unranked events, albeit against the best players in the world.
Clayton has been the model of consistency this week and when he hasn’t messed up his own chances through his inability to count he has looked in control throughout. His first round win over Callan Rydz was impressive and then he cruised past Jose de Sousa before edging out Krzysztof Ratajski in a match he was more on top of than the score suggested. He then cruised past Danny Noppert in the semi-final to set up this final with his World Cup teammate.
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Head to Head
These two have met on 16 previous occasions in singles action, 12 of those have come in the last five years. Clayton actually won the first four of those meetings but it is Price who has dominated things recently. He has won their last eight matches, all of which have come since February 2019 so they are all relevant in terms of Clayton being one of the better players in the world in that time. Clayton did take a couple of those matches to a deciding leg but mixed in there has been a 6-1, 11-4, 7-1 and 11-3, the latter two being their last two battles which both came along this year. One crumb of comfort for Clayton comes in the fact that he has won the only previous final they have played when he came out on top in the finale of the Austrian Darts Open in 2018. That was his last time over Price, three-and-a-half years ago.
Betting
If you bet on this final on pure statistics of the week then you would be backing Jonny Clayton without a second thought but there are other things in play here. These two are good friends obviously but in the last 12-18 months or so I’ve not been convinced that Clayton feels he can beat Gerwyn Price or plays well enough to do it. In the last two knockout TV battles between the two Clayton has checked out at less than 25% in each which suggests that the pressure of the situation might be too much for him.
Clayton will clearly hold the game of Price in high regard and might feel he needs to play better than he actually does which accounts for all those missed doubles but it is a bit of a trend and when Price gets on top of his fellow Welshman he tends to run riot. Price hasn’t been good in the last two nights but we’ve seen him labour to the latter stages of events before and then power home in the final. That is generally what winners do and as long as he can keep control of himself should the crowds remain out of order towards him, I think over this distance his class and consistency will see him come through with a bit to spare.
Tips
Back G.Price (-1.5 sets) to beat J.Clayton for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with Betfair
Back him here:
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