World Champs - Day 9 - Friday Evening
You know us by now. We don't do a whole lot of sitting on the fence, but Friday evening's opening two matches have left us stumped. Not a single bet identified across either of the wide array of markets on the Ian White v Devon Petersen or Jelle Klassen v Keegan Brown matches.
Gerwyn Price v Nathan Aspinall
Gerwyn Price is on the very top of his game right now after collecting his first major TV title last month, and as a result the market is giving him a great deal of respect. The Welshman absolutely has a great chance of progressing deep into this event.
However, a race to three sets is never a great format for favourites, and plenty have fallen over the years. Indeed just this year we have already seen Peter Wright, Raymond van Barneveld and Bob Thornton cracked at short prices. An Gerwyn Price might yet be next.
Nathan Aspinall is a much better player than the man we saw seeing off Geert Nentjes in the 1st round, and if he can sharpen his doubles he has a chance to upset Price in this one. His average winning leg this season has been achieved in 15.13 darts - Price is marginally slower at 15.39, demonstrating there isn't a huge deal between them. 13/5 on Aspinall feels like it has enough juice to warrant a small bet here.
1pt Aspinall to beat Price at 13/5 (Betfair)
Dimitri van den Bergh v Johnny Clayton
This should be a really top class match, make no mistake. The Sky Sports commentary team discussed van den Bergh’s lowly World Ranking (35th) during his opening match, and it’s completely true that to watch him is to disbelieve that ranking. He’s at worst a player capable of becoming a top 10 player very soon indeed, and we’re backing him to continue his form with a win over Johnny Clayton.
It won’t be easy of course – Clayton is a well-regarded player on the tour, but I’d be a good deal shorter on the Belgian arrow-smith in this one – perhaps nearer 8/13. He’s available at 4/5 with Corals and Ladbrokes, and it’s always easy to enjoy cheering on the dancing darter.
Over the past 12 months his average winning leg length has been 14.73- well up with better players. Clayton’s is a respectable 15.59. van den Bergh also finishes over 40% of his legs with the darts in 15 darts or less, which again makes him an elite player on the stats.
3pts van den Bergh to beat Clayton at 4/5