Betfred World Championship predictions and winner odds: Tougher task for Selby

Free snooker tips, best bets and analysis for day eight of the Betfred World Championship on Saturday.

Where to watch

BBC & Eurosport 1, 10am, 2.30pm & 7pm Saturday

Best bets

Mark Allen +3.5 frames v Mark Selby
2pts 8-15 Betfair, Paddy Power

Over 21.5 frames in Shaun Murphy v Yan Bingtao
1pt 4-7 BoyleSports, Coral, Ladbrokes

Preview

Mark Allen v Mark Selby 2.30pm

Mark Allen has won nine of his last 12 clashes with Mark Selby to edge ahead 10-9 in their personal series and the Northern Ireland ace has a good chance to extend his lead over the Jester in their Betfred World Championship second-round clash.

Selby crushed Kurt Maflin 10-1 in his Crucible opener with breaks of 142 and 101. But his next-best compilations were all below 70 and the three-time champion may need to up the ante to be competitive against Allen, whose latest victories over the Leicester cueman were 9-2 last year and 6-2 in 2019.

This is likely to be a good deal tougher than his first-round outing.

Allen did not give Lyu Haotian, no stranger to high breaks himself, a look-in during the Antrim ace's tournament bow, hammering the Chinese player 10-2 with runs of 139, 116 and 102.

In terms of breaks over 50, Allen has bossed Selby 9-3 in those two latest meetings and that sort of dominance is going to be difficult for the Jester to instantly reverse.

Punters can consider backing Allen to progress and even give up a handicap start himself, so there's every hope that the Pistol receiving a start of 3.5 frames should oblige.

Shaun Murphy v Yan Bingtao 7pm

Yan Bingtao is edging favouritism for his last-16 clash with Shaun Murphy and given the players' form in the last year or two, that's not surprising at all.

This is a big opportunity for Yan, who was crowned Masters hero in January, to progress to the quarter-finals in Sheffield because Murphy has struggled with inconsistency in recent campaigns.

That said, the Magician, Crucible king in 2005, spurned big opportunities to become a multiple world champion and there's plenty more left in the tank should Murphy, a winner of all three majors, want more success at the highest level.

Most of their previous clashes have been closely fought, except for their latest one in last year's Players Championship semi-final, which Yan won 6-1. But while Yan plays rather unspectacular snooker, he also produces high-quality fare on a consistent basis and many opponents are finding it difficult to keep tabs on him.

It would be typical of Murphy to suddenly produce a better display and make life tough for Yan and that's probably likelier to happen than the Chinese ace runs away with the match.

The oddsmakers are giving little away but backing over 21.5 frames to be contested could be the way to go.

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