Who will book their places in the Grand Slam of Darts semi-finals?

Grand Slam of Darts: Saturday's quarter-final predictions, odds, betting tips, order of play & TV times

By Chris Hammer

Darts

Sat November 17, 2018 · 6y ago

The two remaining quarter-finals at the Grand Slam of Darts take place tonight so here's the full order of play, match-by-match predictions, Sky Bet odds and a suggested double.

You'd expect Michael van Gerwen and Gary Anderson to set up a mouthwatering semi-final as they head into their respective matches at the Aldersley Leisure Village tonight as hot favourites.

World number one MVG, who is chasing a fourth successive Wolverhampton crown, faces Jonny Clayton in a repeat of the group stage match with the Ferret unforgettably won, while the Flying Scotsman meets the BDO's surprise package Michael Unterbuchner.

Here, I'll run through both games, while there's a reminder of all the group standings and tournament results at the bottom.

Grand Slam of Darts: Saturday November 17

Click on the odds for more Sky Bet match markets

TV Coverage: Sky Sports (7pm GMT)
Quarter-Finals: Best of 31 legs

Michael Unterbuchner (13/2) v Gary Anderson (1/12)

Group Position: 2nd D - 1st D
Group Points: 4 - 6
2nd Rd: Unterbuchner bt Wade (10-6), Anderson bt Harms (10-2)
Head-to-head: 0-1
2018 Meetings: 0-1

TOURNAMENT STATS
Average: 89.70 - 100.38
180s: 5 - 18
100+ Checkouts: 0 - 1
High Checkout: 95 - 136
Checkout percentage: 41.51% (22/53) - 54.35% (25/46)
Legs Won/Lost: 22/16 - 25/6

It speaks volumes that there's only two things Gary Anderson can be disappointed about this week.

Firstly is being a Pointless answer on Friday when Alexander Armstrong asked for darts players who have beaten Phil Taylor at the World Championship, and John Part wasn't.

Secondly, is 'fart-gate'.

The Flying Scotsman has been playing so well, he's made a rather soft draw look even easier, dropping just six legs in his four games so far following three group stage thrashings over Michael Unterbuchner, Ian White and Steve Hine before a brutal 10-2 second-round hammering against the BDO's Wesley Harms, who later accused him of breaking wind on stage.

He won't believe his luck to be facing the BDO's Unterbuchner once again - and I don't mean that disrespectfully - for a place in the Grand Slam of Darts semi-finals, where he'll more than likely come up against a much tougher opponent...Michael van Gerwen.

As well as Unterbuchner has done to become only the 10th ever BDO player to reach this stage of the competition, his tournament average is only 89 compared to Anderson's 100 and over a best-of-31 legs format, that kind of gulf in class is going to be ridiculously hard for the German to bridge.

The Flying Scotsman is desperate to add this title to his 2018 collection consisting of the UK Open, World Matchplay, and Champions League, so I just can't see any slip ups tonight.

It's hard to find much value but if it's a bit of a mauling then I'd be inclined to go low on the 180s, so I'll take 6/4 on under 11.5. Unterbuchner doesn't hit many anyway and if Anderson isn't pushed, he'd do well to hit the lion's share of that amount in around the 24 legs I anticipate. Those who think Anderson will still go maximum crazy, how about backing him -8.5 legs on the handicap at 10/11.

Prediction: 6-16

Jonny Clayton (7/1) v Michael van Gerwen (1/14)

Group Position: 1st A - 2nd A
Group Points: 6 - 4
2nd Rd: Clayton bt Ratajski (10-3), MVG bt Smith (10-8)
Head-to-head: 2-6
2018 Meetings: 2-2

TOURNAMENT STATS
Average: 95.79 - 106.96
180s: 9 - 23
100+ Checkouts: 2 - 0
High Checkout: 100 - 94
Checkout percentage: 45.45% (25/55) - 46.15% (24/52)
Legs Won/Lost: 25/12 - 24/15

Jonny Clayton produced one of the performances of the Grand Slam of Darts so far when defying Michael van Gerwen's monster average of 108 to claim a shock victory during the group stages.

The Welshman went on to top the group before thrashing the hotly-fancied dark horse Krzysztof Ratajski 10-3 in the second round so he'll be full of confidence ahead of tonight.

I was so impressed how he seemed so unflappable against MVG, even when the world number one was averaging over 123 when leading 3-1, so don't expect him to crumble mentally at the first sign of difficulty.

However, best-of-nine legs is a completely different kettle of fish to best-of-31 and even if he did brilliantly enough to edge a couple of nine-leg segments 5-4, he'd still have so much to do to pull off a huge upset.

Michael Smith had to produce a fantastic standard of darts just to stay with MVG, who averaged 108, in the second round but even that wasn't enough so I think it's fair to say the only player who can stop him now is probably Anderson.

All this said, Clayton can make this closer than the odds suggest.

The Ferret, who has actually beaten him twice this season from four meetings, is 11/10 with a +7.5 leg start and even-money with an +8.5 start. I wouldn't be surprised to see him getting as close as six but I'm more than happy with the safety net of 8.5 at that price!

Prediction: Clayton 10-16 Van Gerwen