Grand Slam of Darts predictions & betting odds as Michael van Gerwen & Phil Taylor bid for glory

Title odds: Can anyone stop MVG?

The best players from the PDC and BDO collide for the 11th staging of the Grand Slam of Darts as hot favourite Michael van Gerwen bids to lift the trophy for a third successive year.

The world number one, who is Sky Bet's Price Boosted 10/11 favourite, has firmly bounced back from his three big disappointments this year at the World Matchplay, Champions League of Darts and World Grand Prix by winning the last two televised events in successive weekends - the European Championship and the World Series of Darts Finals.

He's evidently hitting top form at the most crucial time of year, averaging over 103 in last weekend's 11-6 final victory over Gary Anderson in Glasgow while seven days earlier he almost reached 109 in an 11-7 triumph over Rob Cross to clinch the European crown for a fourth year in a row.

Since his humbling to big John Henderson at the World Grand Prix at the start of October, MVG has won all 15 of his competitive matches, which included another successful title run on the European Tour while his only mishap - if you can call it that - was when he withdrew from the German Darts Masters due to injury prior to a match with James Wade.

In all those games, only nine-dart hero Kyle Anderson pushed him to the wire during an 11-10 thriller during the European Championship semi-finals in which the Australian missed two match darts, although the rapidly rising star Rob Cross gave him stern tests in two finals.

Van Gerwen will meet Cross, who has won four PDC titles during a stunning debut season on tour as well as reaching his first major televised final at the Europeans, for an incredible seventh time in 2017 during the group stages on either Sunday or Monday but he has the psychological edge having won five of the previous six.

The only player I believe can stop MVG is the man who has by far a better recent record against him than anyone else - Phil Taylor.

The Power, who is playing his penultimate tournament before retirement, has beaten the Dutchman seven times in their last 10 meetings which included a 16-6 hammering at this summer's World Matchplay and a decisive victory at the Champions League of Darts, which saw MVG exit in the group stages.

Taylor continually admits his struggles with mental and physical fatigue during the big tournaments, hence why he misses virtually all the other events, and with matches hitting best-of-31 legs from the quarter-finals onwards, he may find another battle with van Gerwen just too much this time.

The 57-year-old is 10/1 to get his hands on a seventh Grand Slam title and we've already seen how he can defy his age when he really wants to.

One outright tournament bet I like is MVG to hit the most 180s overall at 4/1.

Obviously if he wins matches easily he has fewer legs to crank up his maximum count but given the quarter-finals onwards are best-of-31, he'll be playing more than enough while he's clearly ascending back to somewhere near his peak form.

In total he's already hit more 180s than anyone else in major tournaments in 2017 and will go far.

Group-by-group predictions

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Group A: Predicted finishing positions

Sky Bet odds to win group in brackets, followed by 'to qualify' odds

1. Rob Cross (11/2 & 2/7)
2. Michael van Gerwen (1/8 & 1/33)
3. Ross Montgomery (50/1 & 6/1)
4. Joe Murnan (33/1 & 4/1)

Verdict: Although the race to five leg format of the group stages increase the chances of shocks - and I do expect surprise qualifiers in the other groups - we can be pretty confident that MVG and Rob Cross both go through here. There's not much more to say on MVG, but the latter has been a revelation during his debut season on the PDC circuit, winning four Players Championship titles as well as reaching two finals on the European Tour in the past couple of months while he proved he can mix it with the best on the major televised stage at the recent European Championship, where he finished an impressive runner-up to MVG. He's lost six of his seven meetings with the world number one but usually runs him close and in a short sprint match, he has the ability to claim an overdue win. His odds of 11/2 to win the group are well worth considering. The BDO's Ross Montgomery, who has shown good form this season in winning the British Open, will be satisfied not to finish bottom and I reckon he can achieve that goal.

Group B: Predicted finishing positions

Sky Bet odds to win group in brackets, followed by 'to qualify' odds

1. Raymond van Barneveld (8/15 & 1/6)
2. Steve Lennon (20/1 & 5/1)
3. Jamie Hughes (7/1 & 13/8)
4. Gerwyn Price (11/4 & 2/5)

Verdict: Tipton thrower Jamie Hughes delighted home fans last year on his Grand Slam debut by upsetting the odds to top a group containing James Wade and Dave Chisnall and there will be plenty of punters backing the BDO star to progress once more. He's won two events this year, including the British Classic, while he's been a runner-up three times and reached five semi-finals, including the BDO World Championship. However, I'm going to stick my neck on the line and back Irish youngster Steve Lennon to qualify. He has bags of potential, although yet to display it on a televised stage, and on Monday defeated Dimitri van den Bergh, Steve Beaton and a player I rate highly - Joe Cullen - in a qualifier for this event. Gerwyn Price is the established PDC name I expect to crash out as Barney strives for a serious major title tilt.

Group C: Predicted finishing positions

Sky Bet odds to win group in brackets, followed by 'to qualify' odds

1. Phil Taylor (4/9 & 1/12)
2. James Wade (3/1 & 4/11)
3. Peter Machin (25/1 & 6/1)
4. Robbie Green (8/1 & 2/1)

Verdict: The BDO's representative in this group, Peter Machin, might tempt a few in the 'to qualify' markets given he's won a big BDO event this season - the World Trophy - while he also defeated Corey Cadby to win the Australian Grand Masters. Phil Taylor isn't vulnerable but James Wade could be, although I feel the Machine's experience of the big PDC tournament environment should see him sneak through.

Group D: Predicted finishing positions

Sky Bet odds to win group in brackets, followed by 'to qualify' odds

1. Daryl Gurney (2/5 & 1/12)
2. Danny Noppert (11/2 & 1/1)
3. Darren Webster (11/2 & 10/11)
4. Mark Webster (14/1 & 7/2)

Verdict: Regular readers of my columns will know I've been banging the Daryl Gurney drum for quite some time and now he's broken his major televised duck at the World Grand Prix last month, he'll be full of belief to go far here. The Northern Irishman narrowly lost to MVG in last weekend's World Series of Darts semi-finals after beating Peter Wright so he has immediate form to feel happy about. He'll top this group but I'm going with Danny Noppert of the BDO to sneak through in second place. He showed what a classy player he was at the World Championship, where he reached the final, and he's very recently left his full-time job to pursue his dream of becoming a professional. Expect him to earn a PDC Tour card soon, but in the short term he'll remind us all of his potential in Wolverhampton.

Group E: Predicted finishing positions

Sky Bet odds to win group in brackets, followed by 'to qualify' odds

1. Corey Cadby (4/1 & 10/11)
2. Peter Wright (1/2 & 1/4)
3. Glen Durrant (9/2 & 1/1)
4. Alan Norris (9/1 & 5/2)

Verdict: This is such a difficult group to call. It looks like I've written off Alan Norris but he does have the ability to cause damage if he finds some momentum, albeit that's been in short supply of late. Glen Durrant is the BDO world champion and performed superbly well here 12 months ago when reaching the second round, only to lose 10-7 to Raymond van Barneveld. He won two group games, including a 5-1 hammering of Norris, and was edged out 5-4 in the other to Gary Anderson. I really think we're going to see some fireworks from the highly-impressive Aussie Corey Cadby, especially as he looks to make amends from being beaten by Gerwyn Price in a fiery encounter in Glasgow last weekend. Peter Wright is beatable although his tournament-winning form this year means he has to be favourite to top the group - but don't be surprised to see him go through only as runner-up.

Group F: Predicted finishing positions

Sky Bet odds to win group in brackets, followed by 'to qualify' odds

1. Dave Chisnall (10/11 & 1/4)
2. Scott Mitchell (7/2 & 1/1)
3. Stephen Bunting (5/2 & 8/13)
4. Jeffrey de Zwaan (10/1 & 5/2)

Verdict: Dave Chisnall finished rock bottom of his group last year and although he hasn't been playing his best recently, he'll see this draw as a good opportunity to rediscover his form. Scott Mitchell, the 2015 BDO world champion, won his organisation's England National title earlier this year and recently reached the England Matchplay final, where he lost a final-leg decider to Glen Durrant, so he's certainly a danger to the PDC's representatives in this group - Stephen Bunting and rising star Jeffrey de Zwaan.

Group G: Predicted finishing positions

Sky Bet odds to win group in brackets, followed by 'to qualify' odds

1. Mensur Suljovic (4/5 & 1/6)
2. Mark McGeeney (10/1 & 3/1)
3. Michael Smith (5/2 & 1/2)
4. James Wilson (5/1 & 6/4)

Verdict: Mark McGeeney is the BDO's number one and recently reached the World Masters for a second successive year, only to lose 6-1 to the impressive Krzysztof Ratajski, who has also appeared on the PDC's European Tour as a non-Tour Card holder on several occasions this season. McGeeney is capable of springing a surprise so the 3/1 odds to progress are tempting, although I'd expect Mensur Suljovic to lead the way given his brilliance this season.

Group H: Predicted finishing positions

Sky Bet odds to win group in brackets, followed by 'to qualify' odds

1. Gary Anderson (1/4 & 1/20)
2. Simon Whitlock (7/2 & 1/5)
3. Cameron Menzies (20/1 & 9/2)
4. Berry van Peer (25/1 & 6/1)

Verdict: Gary Anderson has suffered a few shock defeats in recent times but I can't see him losing more than one in this group while it's tough to pick the second qualifier between World Grand Prix runner-up Simon Whitlock, Caermon Menzies - a two-time winner on the BDO circuit in 2017 - and World Youth finalist Berry van Peer. I'll give the nod to the Wizard given his recent performances on a major televised stage.

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Recommended bets: Grand Slam of Darts

• 1pt Michael van Gerwen to hit most tournament 180s at 4/1
• 1pt Rob Cross to win Group A at 11/2
• 1pt Steve Lennon to qualify from Group B at 5/1
• 2pts Cadby & Noppert to qualify from their groups at 3.31/1

Click here for our transparent tipping record.

Posted at 1435 GMT on 10/11/17.

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