It is quarter final night at the World Grand Prix on Thursday evening when all four ties are played across one tasty looking session of darts inside the CityWest Hotel in Dublin as spots in the semi-finals are up for grabs.
Six of the eight seeds who started out in this tournament have made it to this stage so we should see some real high quality darts and hopefully we’ll get some of the drama we usually associate with this competition.
Mensur Suljovic vs Gerwyn Price
The evening gets underway with two Premier League players from earlier in the year colliding when Mensur Suljovic takes on Gerwyn Price for a spot in a Dublin semi-final. Price has had the better of their head to head record but it is Suljovic that has won both their meetings on the stage.
Suljovic has been very good in this competition but there were signs of life from Price in the second round in particular that makes you think he might be able to keep the Austrian honest at the very least which is enough to put me off taking Suljovic on the handicap even though it is an attractive price. Suljovic could and should win this 3-1 or better but Price is respected enough to sit this one out.
Peter Wright vs James Wilson
The world number two Peter Wright looks to finally make it through to the semi-final of this tournament when he takes on James Wilson for the right to face the earlier winner in the last four on Friday night.
Wright has looked sublime so far although he hasn’t faced too much in the way of opposition and it might be that the battle hardened Wilson is better prepared for this contest as you would think this will turn into a decent game of darts at some point.
This is the best Wright has ever played at this tournament but he still isn’t convincing on his scoring and you wonder what he’ll find if Wilson does serve it up to him. We saw on Wednesday evening how tense Wilson can get though so rather than take him to win I’ll play him to hit the most 180s with him much the heavier hitter of them of the two.
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Daryl Gurney vs Gary Anderson
The first match from the quality littered top half of the draw sees the defending champion Daryl Gurney taking on the man who has won the last two TV tournaments in the shape of Gary Anderson.
Much has been made of the fact that Anderson is yet to win this title but he looks in the mood to put that right this week and has powered his way through to the quarter final stage. Gurney hasn’t been as convincing but he can be hard to put away in this format and won their previous meeting when they met in Brighton a couple of weeks ago.
In that match Anderson powered in an inordinate amount of 180s and between the pair of them I expect to see eight hit in this match even allowing for the lesser scoring chances. It is only one 180 a set for each of them if there are four sets and that certainly isn’t beyond these heavy scorers.
Michael van Gerwen vs Dave Chisnall
The final match of the quarter final stage sees the world number one Michael van Gerwen taking on the former finalist in this tournament in Dave Chisnall, a man whom he has a wonderful record against.
I think we saw in the Champions League of Darts last month that Chisnall has taken too many beatings by MVG to believe he is going to win and his best chance is to hope that the quirky format gives him half a chance. I don’t expect that to be the case though. Van Gerwen looks like a man on a mission this week so I expect him to win but as ever the odds are reflective of that fact.
Tips
Back J.Wilson Most 180s vs P.Wright for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with Boylesports
Back him here:
Back D.Gurney vs G.Anderson – Over 7.5 180s for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Skybet
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