At the start of the week 32 players arrived in Dublin with the aim of landing the World Grand Prix title but now that dream remains for just two men – Michael van Gerwen and Robert Thornton. The two are set to play out the final on Saturday night with a cool £100,000 up for grabs for the winner.
Michael van Gerwen will be aiming to defend his title in this final while Robert Thornton will be looking for a first Grand Prix victory and a third televised major success overall. Both men know how to get it done in the big matches so this should be a good final which will be played over the best of nine sets.
Van Gerwen has largely eased into this stage of the tournament although a couple of concerns for his fans could be that he has had an easy draw and not really been challenged and that he has hit flat spots in every match so far. He has got away with them at the minute but against his strongest opponent he might not here.
Thornton has had a couple of major battles in the last two rounds. He had to come through a deciding leg to see off Ian White in the quarter final and then he outlasted an awkward Mensur Suljovic in the semi-final. On both occasions his scoring was amazing but if he’s to win this he’ll have to get away better than he has been doing.
These two men have met 18 times in the past with MVG holding a 13-1-4 lead currently. He is also on a winning streak of seven in a row so the Dutchman will be confident he can reclaim the title against an opponent he has a hex over at the present time.
That said Thornton has been playing well this week and needs respecting especially over this distance where we know he can sustain his form so this should be an interesting final.
I think the odds and handicap lines are about right and with van Gerwen hitting these flat spots all the time I can’t go near either really so I’ll head to the side markets for a bet.
Robert Thornton has hit seven 180s and 11 180s in his last two matches so the 6.5 180s line looks a touch low here all things considered. He is a fine scorer at the best of time and the fact he hasn’t been crisp on his starting has given him more scoring opportunities.
He will need to score brilliantly if he is to win this final and at 5/6 I’m more than happy to back him to hit seven 180s or more for the third time in a row in this tournament.
Back R.Thornton Over 7.5 180s for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with BetVictor
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