The PDC World Championship outright betting was shaken up by the elimination of ante-post favourite Gerwyn Price on Saturday night – the Welshman suffering a 5-4 defeat to fresh market leader Michael Smith.
Price needed to take out 42 to win the match, with three darts in his hand, but the defending champion buckled under the pressure – and some boos from the crowd – to allow Smith back into the match.
Bully Boy Smith is 7/5 to win the World Championship. The St Helens man made the final in 2019, but was soundly thrashed 7-3 by Michael van Gerwen.
Smith Form Has Been Electric
Smith was fantastic in the semi-finals that year, though, beating Nathan Aspinall 6-3 – and Bully Boy will fancy his chances of doing a similar job on James Wade in their Alexandra Palace dust-up on Sunday night.
Wade has an excellent head-to-head record against Smith, but much of that form is from the distant past, and the modern Smith is a much more formidable opponent.
He destroyed Ron Meulenkamp 3-0 with a 106.32 average in round two and has maintained a high standard throughout the competition, seeing off Jonny Clayton and Price in gutsy fashion.
No Test Yet for Machine
Wade averaged just 83.74 in his opening match, then got a bye through the next round after Vincent van der Voort tested positive for Covid.
Martijn Kleermaker and Mervyn King then gifted Wade progression with lame performances in the subsequent rounds, meaning The Machine has had to do precious little to earn a semi-finals spot.
Wade, a three-time losing semi-finalist, is always dangerous on a checkout, but Smith’s scoring power should leave the left-hander behind, and a 6-2 Smith victory is worth considering on the correct-score market at 5/1.
Wright Can Reverse Ally Pally Form
The second match of the night may prove a much closer contest – Gary Anderson against Peter Wright.
The two Scottish veterans have met twice before in the World Championship, with Anderson coming out on top on both occasions, but Wright has since won the big one himself and can edge tonight’s joust.
Snakebite has had a superior average to Anderson in the previous three rounds and that slightly better performance may translate to a 6-4 success – an 11/2 chance in the correct-score market.
Wright is 1/2 to win the match and Anderson is the 8/5 outsider.
Snakebite Peaking at Right Time
Callan Rydz provided a serious test for Wright in the quarters – the youngster from Newcastle conjured some amazing checkouts – but Wright came through the challenge.
The 51-year-old was sloppy on his doubles and will need better to deal with Anderson, but generally over the course of this event, Wright has exuded control.
He also seems to have finally accepted that his old, gold darts are the best option. He went 2-0 down when experimenting with new, silver darts against Damon Heta, but switched to the tools which have brought him most success and fought back to win 4-2.
Expect a tight tussle early on, before the solidity of Wright tells in the latter stages.
*All odds correct at time of writing.