Price is right to back Gerwyn for World Series darts glory

ITV4, 7pm Friday

Some punters endured a nightmare in Dortmund last weekend with shocks aplenty in the European Championship and there may be more upsets en route to crowning the champion at this weekend’s World Series Finals in Vienna.

Michael van Gerwen is an easy-to-back 10-11 following his second-round exit at the Euros while Gary Anderson, a non-runner last time out, is next best at 6-1.

Those two contested the final 12 months ago with Van Gerwen triumphing 11-6. It completed a hat-trick of World Series titles for the Dutchman and he’s the only man to have ever won the event.

MvG will be smarting over last week’s defeat by Steve West in Dortmund, the latest in a number of surprise losses which make him easy enough to overlook.

The usual rules apply with Van Gerwen - if he’s buzzing he’s pretty much unstoppable but if he goes in at odds-on, so be it.

At bigger prices go for Gerwyn Price and Rob Cross.

World champion Cross has found 2018 tough but he has still won a couple of times and he looked decent in Dortmund, beating Danny Noppert and thrashing Richard North before getting pipped by Joe Cullen.

Cross’s game is all about self-belief and last weekend’s efforts will have helped. He’s also 14-1, which looks attractive for a player who was being crowned champion of the world ten months ago.

It’s not a huge field – 24 go to post – and as the second seed he has to win just three matches to land the each-way money.

The seeds in the top half of the draw are Peter Wright, Simon Whitlock, Michael Smith and Anderson, last seen throwing a wobbly over acts of supposed gamesmanship by Daryl Gurney at the Grand Prix.

There was little in it but it’s not the first time the Scot has shown his displeasure on stage over his opponent and he sounds more and more fed up every time he’s interviewed. If his opponents have got any sense they’ll milk that.

The four seeds are happily overlooked so go for Price, a player who has had to deal with flashes of self-doubt after a poor Premier League, an Achilles injury and the loss of his darts, yet he continues to play well.

In Germany, he took care of Kyle Anderson and Dave Chisnall before missing match darts in his last-eight showdown with winner James Wade.

Gezzy has reached a couple of finals this year, the second yielding a winner’s cheque for £25,000 at the International Open. He also looks value at 66-1.

Wade, incidentally, dotted up at 28-1 on Sunday for Racing Post followers and 40-1 is available for supporters of the left-hander this week. Few players other than Van Gerwen can do back-to-back major titles but it’s unquestionably a generous price.

Round one on Friday features the 16 non-seeds and there are some outsiders to latch onto.

First, Steve Beaton beat Daryl Gurney in their only previous meeting this season and should fancy his chances. The Northern Irishman’s head drops too easily and if The Adonis can get after him he’s nothing to fear.

If Damon Heta’s results could match his throwing style he’d be in the world's top ten by now.

Sadly, the Aussie doesn’t get to cross tungsten with the big guns often enough though he gave Anderson a couple of serious scares when the PDC’s elite went to Australia in the summer.

He can take care of home favourite Maik Langendorf, whose stage performances are abysmal so add in the pressure of having to perform in front of his crowd and he could melt.

Recommendations
G Price
1pt e-w 66-1 Coral, Ladbrokes
R Cross
1pt e-w 14-1 Coral, Ladbrokes
S Beaton to beat D Gurney
2pts 7-4 general
D Heta to beat M Langendorf
1pt Evs general

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