Gary Anderson and Michael van Gerwen should brush aside weak rivals

Sky Sports Action, 7pm Saturday

Punters will presume the short-priced double can’t fail when Michael van Gerwen and Gary Anderson top the bill at the Grand Slam quarter-finals in Wolverhampton - and they should be right.

Second seed Anderson takes on BDO outsider Michael Unterbuchner before Van Gerwen seeks to avenge his shock group-stage defeat by Jonny Clayton.

However, the Van Gerwen-Anderson double works out at around 2-11 so it may need something more enticing to get the betting juices flowing on what could prove to be an anti-climax of an evening.

Anderson has already smashed Unterbuchner 5-1 in the group stage, when the German averaged less than 80.

He should be in a better state of mind having stunned James Wade in the last 16 on Thursday night, though Wade was extremely flat in that contest. It is desperately hard to envisage anything other than an Anderson massacre.

Van Gerwen could possibly be detained longer by Clayton. The world number one averaged the best part of 108 against Clayton on Sunday and still lost 5-4 as the Welshman hardly missed a double.

Clayton has since come out and beaten Krzysztof Ratajski 10-3 but he can't really be expected to outlast Van Gerwen in a best-of-31 affair. The only time they have met in a long-distance match was in the final of last year’s Players Championship Finals, when Van Gerwen won 11-2.

A handicap double on the big two each giving up 6.5 legs works out at around 23-10.

Recommendation
M van Gerwen -6.5 legs (10-11)
G Anderson -6.5 legs (8-11)
2pt double Betfair, Paddy Power

Read every day for no-nonsense previews and expert sports betting tips

Follow us on Twitter

Like us on Facebook RacingPostSport