Grand Slam of Darts: Day eight predictions, odds, betting tips, order of play & TV start time

Darts

Sat November 18, 2017 · 7y ago

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

Two-time defending champion Michael van Gerwen takes on rising star Rob Cross while the retiring Phil Taylor faces Daryl Gurney as the quarter-finals conclude tonight.

Here, we have the Sky Bet odds, Chris Hammer's predicted scoreline for each game, his suggested bets and double. You can also click here to look back at the group standings and full tournament schedule.

Grand Slam of Darts: Saturday November 18

Click on the odds for more Sky Bet match markets

TV Coverage: Sky Sports Action (8pm)
2x Quarter-Finals: Best of 31 legs

Phil Taylor (4/7) v Daryl Gurney (11/8)

Is Daryl Gurney the future of darts?

"To be honest, no. Not really, no, no, no, no, no"

That was Phil Taylor's well-documented assessment of the World Grand Prix champion when interviewed live on Sky Sports after his comfortable victory over Darren Webster on Thursday night - but he wasn't really knocking his ability.

His dismissal of Gurney was predominantly directed at his perceived surly demeanour on the oche, which would prevent him being the face of the sport, in Taylor's eyes. Unless of course, he "smiles more".

Well, the Northern Irishman, who received widespread criticism for his unsportsmanlike shoulder barge on Simon Whitlock in the aforementioned Dublin final, will be grinning like a Cheshire Cat if he can end the six-time champion's Grand Slam of Darts career, that's for sure.

He certainly looked good enough to go very deep in the tournament during the group stages when he hardly missed a dart at a double (eight to be precise over his three matches) while he annihilated a very disappointing James Wade 10-2 in a one-sided quarter-final.

Despite the scoreline, he only averaged 94.62 and missed 17 darts at a double, such was Wade's weakness in all areas of the game that night so I don't want to read much into that.

Taylor also found his opponent, Darren Webster, on an off day but the Power weighed in with a much improved display compared to his ropey group campaign, averaging over 100 and nailing over 50% of his doubles.

Given how he struggles with mental fatigue these days it's going to be very hard indeed to come through three best-of-31 games over two days against such high-calibre opposition but I do think he'll have enough desire and quality to stop Gurney in his tracks.

I'm going to take Sky Bet's special Price Boost treble of 11/2 (from 7/2) that Taylor wins, hits over 7.5 180s and has a high checkout of over 125.5. He managed six maximums in 14 legs the other night while he'll have plenty of opportunities to land a high enough out.

Prediction: Taylor 16-10 Gurney

Michael van Gerwen (1/6) v Rob Cross (4/1)

In my predictions piece ahead of his clash with Raymond van Barneveld two days ago, I made a case for backing Rob Cross at 22/1 to win the title.

Everyone knows how he's taken to the PDC circuit like a duck to water with four tournament wins in his debut season - but to see him make 100+ averages look so easy up on a major televised stage so early in his professional career underlines why he's being branded the real deal.

Reaching his first TV final at the recent European Championship, where he lost to MVG, was a big mental breakthrough ahead of his much bigger event and it shows with every performance.

When under pressure against Barney at 7-6 down, Voltage produced a blitz of trebles in the next four legs and only missed one attempt at a double as he stormed to a 10-7 victory, ending with a 103.87 average.

I know he's only beaten MVG once before and has lost the other seven meetings (six in 2017) but he's rarely been rolled over and last Sunday night he came agonisingly close to claiming the big scalp as he missed two match darts having previously landed the 170 checkout.

He really has got all the attributes although I must acknowledge this will be his first best-of-31 match in his PDC career.

I'm sure it's going to be a classic so if you're not convinced about Cross springing a surprise at 4/1 then do take a look at the sub markets such as the match having over 26.5 legs, more than 17.5 180s and a checkout of over 139.5 at 3/1.

Prediction: Van Gerwen 14-16 Cross