The semi-final line-up at the Grand Slam of Darts will be finalised on Saturday evening when the two quarter finals in the bottom half of the draw will be played out inside the Aldersley Leisure Village on what should be a great night of action.
We saw Michael Smith and Raymond van Barneveld book their spot in the first semi-final on Sunday afternoon when they came through on Friday night and on Saturday the likes of Michael van Gerwen and Nathan Aspinall will look to follow them.
Nathan Aspinall vs Alan Soutar
The first of the two matches on the night sees the World Grand Prix finalist Nathan Aspinall taking on the underrated Scottish player Alan Soutar, who has the chance to do his ranking the world of good over the course of the next couple of days.
Aspinall has looked in good working order in this tournament so far but he won’t need reminding that he lost to Soutar in the group stage so he will be out for a bit of revenge over the course of this match. Soutar beat Aspinall and then cruised past Fallon Sherrock before shocking Jonny Clayton in the last 16 so he is entitled to feel good about his chances in this one. I fancy this might be a closer match than might be expected because although Soutar isn’t a standout talent, he has very good timing and if he can pin his doubles a bit better than he has done in the tournament to date then he is likely to run Aspinall close. The handicap is 3.5 legs in favour of The Asp and if I was betting I would back him to cover it because he has more experience of these lengthy matches and at this stage of a major tournament but there isn’t much wiggle room. One market where there is some wiggle room is the Aspinall 180s where he only has a 7.5 180 line. Given that he hit five in 16 legs in the previous round we’re only really looking at him needing 25-26 legs here for eight to come along at the same rate. I expect his 180s to come more regularly than before though because the rise in the format leads to better rhythm and a general better standard. I like the over here.
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Michael van Gerwen vs Luke Humphries
The second quarter final of the evening is the pick of the two as Michael van Gerwen continues his quest for a clean sweep of Sky TV titles on the season having already won the Premier League, World Matchplay and the World Grand Prix. Luke Humphries is the next man in his way.
Humphries has had an excellent season, cleaning up on the European Tour and you get the impression it isn’t going to be long before he lands a major title as well. Whether he can go the best of 31 legs with someone of the quality of van Gerwen though is another issue right now. We know how MVG will go here. He’ll have purple patches and then he’ll have the odd slow patch and the outcome of this one will be determined by whether Humphries can stay close when van Gerwen is on it and how far clear he can get when MVG isn’t on it. While Humphries is now up to number five in the world he doesn’t have a huge amount of experience of these extremely long format matches and that is negative but I think this will be close and it has the whiff of an upset about it but missed doubles could swing this one and I don’t want to get involved in that sort of match.
Tips
Back N.Aspinall – Over 7.5 180s for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with Betway
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