Who will make it through to the quarter-finals of the Grand Slam of Darts?

Grand Slam of Darts: Wednesday predictions, odds, betting tips, order of play & TV times

By Chris Hammer

Darts

Wed November 14, 2018 · 6y ago

The knockout stages of the Grand Slam of Darts gets under way with four second-round matches tonight so here's the full order of play, match-by-match predictions, Sky Bet odds and a suggested accumulator.

The eight players who made it through Groups E-H on Monday take the oche once more at the Aldersley Leisure Village in Wolverhampton, but there are none from the BDO after their four representatives from this section of the draw, including Glen Durrant, were eliminated.

Rob Cross, Peter Wright and Mensur Suljovic are the biggest names on show tonight as the tournament reaches a best of 19 leg format and here I'll run through every game, while there's a reminder of all the group standings at the bottom.

Grand Slam of Darts: Wednesday November 14

Click on the odds for more Sky Bet match markets

TV Coverage: Sky Sports (7pm GMT)
Second round: Best of 19 legs

Stephen Bunting (11/10) v Dimitri van den Bergh (8/11)

Group Position: 1st G - 2nd H
Group Points: 6 - 4
Head-to-head: 2-1
2018 meetings: 0-0

I think it's fair that Dimitri van den Bergh is favourite here despite being a group runner-up. The World Youth champion, who defends that title later this month against Martin Schindler, lost once against Rob Cross but only in a deciding leg while his tournament average is slightly higher. That said, Bunting is on a roll and playing some of the best darts we've seen from him in quite a while. Expect a close, quality contest that goes far. I'll go for over 15.5 legs in the match, a high checkout of 116.5+ and over 6.5 180s at 5/4.

Prediction: 7-10

Gerwyn Price (4/11) v Josh Payne (11/5)

Group F Position: 1st F - 2nd E
Group Points: 4 - 2
Head-to-head: 0-5
2018 meetings: 0-1

As well as Josh Payne has done to be here, including taking Peter Wright the distance in his final group game to book his place in the knockout stages, I can't see past Gerwyn Price here in this longer format given how well he's playing. The Iceman is one of just five players to record a double figure 180s count after the groups while his average is fifth best overall at 98.92. He managed a 104 average in the only match he did lose - 'that' cracker against double 170 checkout hero Simon Whitlock! Don't read too much into the head-to-head record - only one of those five encounters was this year and the others were 2016 or earlier. I'll take Price to win, score over 3.5 maximums and have a checkout of over 98.5 at 7/4.

Prediction: 10-5

Rob Cross (4/6) v Mensur Suljovic (6/5)

Group F Position: 1st H - 2nd G
Group Points: 6 - 2
Head-to-head: 5-4
2018 meetings: 1-4

Rob Cross may well have found some winning form but he's still not ripping up trees with his performances and you could argue Mensur Suljovic's levels of scoring and finishing were better - albeit marginally - during his disappointing group stage campaign despite losing twice. Overall this season the Austrian will be much happier than Cross and he's also won four of their head-to-head meetings in 2018, so I'm going for the Austrian again. You can keep it simple at 6/5 for the win but I like to throw in Suljovic throwing over 2.5 180s and making a high checkout of 91.5+ to boost those odds to 9/4.

Prediction: 7-10

Peter Wright (2/5) v Simon Whitlock (2/1)

Group G Position: 1st E - 2nd F
Group Points: 6 - 4
Head-to-head: 16-8 (1 draw)
2018 meetings: 6-1 (1 draw)

Why not go for the upset? The 2017 runner-up won all his group games but was taken to a pair of deciding legs against Jim Williams and Josh Payne, so it was hardly convincing. Simon Whitlock was battered by Glen Durrant in the first match but bounced back to qualify thanks largely to that barnstorming performance against Gerwyn Price in which he came from 4-1 down, averaged 109 and hit two 170 checkouts.

That showed tremendous character and he knows on that form he can cause anyone trouble. He probably won't keep that level up but I reckon he can beat Snakebite. He did have a horrible recent head-to-head record against Wright but he ended a run of six successive defeats by winning their last-16 showdown at the European Championship, so maybe the tide has turned.

Prediction: 7-10

Wednesday night's suggested darts bets

Bunting v van den Bergh to have over 15.5 legs, a high checkout of 116.5+ and over 6.5 180s at 5/4
Suljovic to win, over 2.5 180s and checkout of over 91.5 at 9/4.
Price to win, score over 3.5 maximums and checkout of over 98.5 at 7/4.
Whitlock to beat Wright at 2/1
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