The Players Championship Finals take place in Minehead this weekend

Players Championship Finals darts: Predictions, tips & odds as the PDC stars eye Minehead glory

By Chris Hammer

Darts

Fri November 23, 2018 · 6y ago

The Players Championship Finals is the last major ahead of next month's PDC World Darts Championship and our Chris Hammer previews the action with his best bets.

A fantastically dramatic year of darts is drawing to a close but ahead of next month's climax at the Ally Pally, we have one more TV major to look forward to this weekend at the Butlin's Minehead Resort.

Last time we were here for the UK Open Finals back in March, there were of course no fans due to the freezing conditions but that didn't stop Gary Anderson kick-starting his trophy-laden season by winning the event for the first time in his career.

The Flying Scotsman went on to add the World Matchplay title to his glittering CV (hitting a nine-dart finish along the way), as well as a maiden Champions League of Darts crown but his attempts to land his first World Grand Prix and Grand Slam of Darts trophies both ended in heated and controversial defeats to Daryl Gurney and Gerwyn Price respectively.

Players Championship Info

When & Where: Butlin's Minehead Resort, November 23-25
TV Channel: ITV 4 (All sessions - 1pm Afternoons, 7pm Evenings)
Draw: Click here for full draw & daily schedule
Sky Bet Odds (Top Four): MVG (5/4), Anderson (4/1), Wright (9/1), Wade (16)

The latter came after 'fart-gate' with Wesley Harms and a superb semi-final victory over Michael van Gerwen but just when you thought he was a shoe-in to get the job done, along came wind-up merchant Price and his oche histrionics.

But that shouldn't take much away from the Iceman, who played brilliantly and showed incredible fighting spirit when trailing a player of Anderson's calibre in just his second major final. The former rugby player never looked fazed, even when Ando started to turn on the style - and his own celebrations - to open up 11-8 and 13-11 leads.

Weaker players would have crumbled away at those points but he dug away, kept landing the big shots and rattled his legendary opponent before revelling in the chorus of boos which greeted his victory and trophy presentation.

There will be no repeat meeting at the Players Championship Finals this week unless both men reach the final again, although it looks, on paper, that Price has a much easier route to make it back-to-back titles.

The Welshman is in the top half, but the opposite includes Anderson, MVG, Michael Smith, Rob Cross as well as in-form trio Simon Whitlock, Jonny Clayton and nine-dart hero Dimitri van den Bergh, who all enjoyed impressive Grand Slam campaigns.

As usual, I'll quickly go through the draw quarter-by-quarter before delivering my outright verdict and recommended bets.

Quarter One (seedings in brackets)

Dave Chisnall at 9/2

(1) Ian White v (64) Scott Taylor
(32) Brendan Dolan v (33) Michael Barnard
(16) Daryl Gurney v (49) Robert Thornton
(17) Josh Payne v (48) Ryan Searle
(8) James Wade v (57) Ross Smith
(25) Nathan Aspinall v (40) Martin Schindler
(9) Dave Chisnall v (56) Jamie Lewis
(24) Chris Dobey v (41) Ron Meulenkamp
Click here for Sky Bet's first quarter odds
CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL TOURNAMENT DRAW & SCHEDULE

Firstly, if you don't follow darts too closely and think Ian White being top seed is a typo, it's not. The 64 players in the field are seeded on how they finished in the Players Championship Order of Merit, which is an accumulation of prize money earned across the 22 Players Championship events held over 2018, and Diamond earned most with a cool £52,000, ahead of Anderson (£47,250) and MVG (£45,500).

However, since reaching the final of the 20th event in September - a month in which he also won his maiden European Tour title - his form has really slipped off and I'm not sure if he'll reach the quarters.

James Wade is unsurprisingly favourite due to his recent revival that has seen him win the European Championship and World Series of Darts Finals in recent weeks but the Machine malfunctioned somewhat against the BDO's Michael Unterbuchner in Wolverhampton which may have knocked him off his stride a little.

I like Dave Chisnall here at 9/2. He's going to be fresh and raring to go having failed to qualify for the Grand Slam of Darts but he showed signs of promise during his run to the World Grand Prix quarter-finals, where he lost to MVG, and his win over Anderson at the World Series.

He has a dangerous first-round opponent in Jamie Lewis what game these days isn't a banana skin? When/if he meets Wade it'll be best of 19 legs and he'll have the slight phycological advantage of four wins from their last five meetings - albeit none took place this year. Daryl Gurney would be potentially the be next for a place in the semi-finals but the Northern Irishman has hardly been formidable this season.

Quarter Two

Krzysztof Ratajski at 12/1

(5) Adrian Lewis v (60) Adam Hunt
(28) Krzysztof Ratajski v (37) Gerwyn Price
(12) Danny Noppert v (53) Rowby-John Rodriguez
(21) Mervyn King v (44) Simon Stevenson
(4) Peter Wright v (61) Toni Alcinas
(29) Max Hopp v (36) Steve West
(13) Stephen Bunting v (52) Richard North
(20) Mickey Mansell v (45) Madars Razma
Click here for Sky Bet's second quarter odds

As you can see I'm going against the form man straight away but we can't ignore just how hot Krzysztof Ratajski was looking at the Grand Slam of Darts before he suffered a bit of a blowout against Jonny Clayton in the knockout stages.

Prior to Wolverhampton he'd won the last two Players Championship events back-to-back to qualify for this finale as high as 28th in the Order of Merit...not bad considering he played just four of the 22 tournaments and in the other two of those he earned no prize money!

Over best of 11 legs he poses a significant risk to Price, who must surely be mentally drained from his 'heroics' and exertions last week. Also, don't forget Simon Whitlock missed five match darts in their gripping quarter-final so Price's journey could so easily have ended in disappointment.

Ratajski doesn't strike me as someone who will be adversely affected by Price's behaviour and an early 'shock' is on the cards.

I'm not convinced about Adrian Lewis in this quarter at just 5/1 whereas Peter Wright, the 15/8 favourite, is clearly out of form at the moment and could easily come unstuck against Max Hopp or Steve West over 11 legs in the second round.

Quarter Three

Joe Cullen at 14/1

(2) Gary Anderson v (63) Alan Tabern
(31) Simon Whitlock v (34) Kyle Anderson
(15) Steve Beaton v (50) Kim Huybrechts
(18) John Henderson v (47) Joe Cullen
(7) Michael Smith v (58) Vincent van der Voort
(26) Jonny Clayton v (39) Mark Webster
(10) Jeffrey de Zwaan v (55) Jelle Klaasen
(23) Ricky Evans v (42) Jan Dekker
Click here for Sky Bet's third quarter odds

Goodness knows what's going through Anderson's mind right now and how he'll respond to missing such a golden opportunity to win the trophy he wanted more than any other (apart from a third world title) in those circumstances - but he's got a much tougher ride than he had in Wolverhampton.

Whitlock could come as early as the second round (and over just 11 legs), then it's potentially Joe Cullen prior to a prospective quarter-final with Smith or 2017 runner-up Clayton in the quarters (best of 19).

The format of this event is quite short (best of 21 legs for semis and final) so no player will be immune from shocks at any stage, and with so many top class players in this quarter, it's not really worth going for the shortest priced options.

Not for the first time this season, I'm going for Cullen at a very tempting 14/1 and I'd also say Jeffrey de Zwaan has appeal at the same price although the Dutchman is in the same mini segment as dangerous in-form duo Smith and Clayton, who will both be fancied by many punters to go deep here.

This season we've finally caught several glimpses of what we know The Rockstar should be capable of doing more often on the TV stage - when he gets on a roll. He pushed Anderson so incredibly hard in that epic World Matchplay quarter-final, missing match darts for the biggest win of his career, while he recently reached the European Championship semi-final by beating Smith and Rob Cross before his agonising deciding leg defeat to Simon Whitlock.

Cullen is also fresh having missed out on the Grand Slam of Darts and he 'should' beat big John Henderson before a very winnable clash with Steve Beaton or Kim Huybrechts.

Next up could of course be Anderson but he holds no fear for anyone and he'll be targeting a semi-final spot minimum this weekend.

Quarter Four

Rob Cross at 5/1

(6) Rob Cross v (59) Cristo Reyes
(27) Ryan Joyce v (38) Steve Lennon
(11) James Wilson v (54) Dimitri van den Bergh
(22) Gabriel Clemens v (43) Andrew Gilding
(3) Michael van Gerwen v (62) Matthew Edgar
(30) Keegan Brown v Benito van de Pas (replaced Mensur Suljovic)
(14) Jermaine Wattimena v (51) Stephen Burton
(19) Darren Webster v (46) Jeffrey de Graaf
Click here for Sky Bet's fourth quarter odds

MVG would love to win this event for the fifth time - and fourth in a row - before next month's World Championship having suffered an array of disappointments in 2018 despite still managing 18 titles including the Masters, Premier League and World Grand Prix!

The Dutchman also be wary of falling foul to the short format having crashed out to Jeffrey de Zwaan (another player in the bottom half of the draw) in the early stages of both the UK Open and World Matchplay.

He's in the easier quarter of the bottom half but could end up facing Cross, who is also desperate for some momentum, before coming up against whoever gets through that loaded third section.

Interestingly, MVG goes off as an odds-against favourite to win a tournament for the first time since goodness knows when! This significant drift in his usual starting odds takes into account his 'losing' run and his tough half of the draw, but maybe that's an overreaction.

I've never previously backed him on value grounds, not to mention how he's more susceptible to a shock than ever, but odds-against prices are almost attractive for those who like a chunky bet.

That said I'm going to take a stab at Voltage here despite a lack of great form.

The world champion showed signs of life by winning all three short first to five leg Grand Slam group matches, including one against Dimitri van den Bergh, before coming up short in a lacklustre second-round clash with Mensur Suljovic.

I'd say he's heading in the right direction and you could argue there's less expectation on him now than at any point during what has been a highly pressurised season having reached the pinnacle of the sport so ridiculously early in his professional career.

He's not really got much to lose in what must feel like a free shot before three weeks of competition free build-up to his world title defence.

Outright title tips

Cross is a very big price at 25/1 to go the distance and that's probably a more preferable shout each-way than taking 5/1 on winning the quarter - after all, it can only get easier if he's knocked out MVG in the last eight.

I'll adopt the same strategy for 2016 runner-up Chizzy, who at 40/1 really could go close here again from under the radar given his softish draw, while Ratajski (100/1) and Cullen (100/1) could both give you more than just a run for your money with a small each-way bet.