Masters predictions and darts betting tips: Price is right for Welshman

Where to watch

ITV4, 7pm Friday

Best bets

Gerwyn Price to win the Masters
2pts 5-1 general

Jonny Clayton to win the Masters
1pt each-way 14-1 general

Stephen Bunting to beat Nathan Aspinall
1pt 13-10 bet365, Coral, Ladbrokes

Callan Rydz to beat James Wade
1pt 13-10 general 

Ross Smith to beat Damon Heta
1pt 21-20 Coral, Ladbrokes

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Masters darts betting preview

Gerwyn Price can bounce back from two near misses by making it third time lucky at the Masters in Milton Keynes.

The Iceman heads for the Marshall Arena after claiming runners-up spots at both this month's World Series events in Bahrain and Copenhagen, where he threw some top tungsten.

He beat Jonny Clayton and Rob Cross before succumbing to Michael Smith in Bahrain and then delivered ton-plus averages against Dimitri van den Bergh and Clayton again before falling short against Peter Wright in Denmark.

Price has been struggling with illness this week but he's throwing well and away from the dreaded Alexandra Palace, where he found few friends, he's a different animal.

The Welshman is one of the world's top eight players, who don't enter the tournament until round two, with the next 16 in the rankings going to battle in round one over best-of-11 legs and the player who appeals from the bottom half is Clayton, who looks overpriced at 14-1.

Again, his numbers in Bahrain and Copenhagen were excellent and he looked as good as anyone in the worlds with his efforts against Brendan Dolan and Josh Rock, but seemed to run out of gas against Van den Bergh in the last eight.

You can make cases for any of the big guns in such an elite field, even 'Snakebite' Wright, who looked back to somewhere near his best last weekend.

But all the top eight will face tough second-round matches given the calibre of player toeing the oche in round one with several outsiders potentially going in.

Stephen Bunting, for example, looked a million dollars at Ally Pally, reaching the quarter-finals after impressive wins over Dave Chisnall and Luke Humphries, and there is no reason why he can't topple big buddy and practice partner Nathan Aspinall.

Equally, James Wade was one of the few seeds to flop at the Palace in a tournament he entered with questions being asked over his form. Those doubts haven't gone away and Callan Rydz, a mercurial talent, is more than capable of taking down the left-hander so, at 13-10, he looks a tempting price.

Ross Smith has beaten Damon Heta in each of their last five meetings and the maximum-mauling Englishman can make it six on the spin in Milton Keynes.

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