Fiery Gerwyn Price looks ready to take advantage of favourable Ally Pally draw

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Tournament starts 7pm Thursday

Rarely have the seedings for the William Hill World Championship caused quite such a kerfuffle but the presence of the best two arrowsmiths on planet darts in the same half of the draw is the big talking point as the stars get ready to toe the oche at Alexandra Palace.

Michael van Gerwen and Gary Anderson, head and shoulders above the rest on their day and proud winners of 27 titles between them in 2018, by virtue of being seeded numbers one and four are housed in the same top half of a terribly lop-sided draw.

It means they can meet no later than the semis so someone from a half in which the top two seeds are the chronically out-of-form Rob Cross and the unbelievably inconsistent Peter Wright is in for a fairytale ride to the world final on New Year’s Day.

Understandably, punters are poring over that wide-open bottom half for some value and wondering if we’re going to see another Kirk Shepherd moment. It’s 11 years since he stunned the arrow-wielding masses by reaching the final as a 1,000-1 shot in the first ever tournament at the Palace.

Such a repeat is unlikely although you could never say never.

• William Hill World Championship draw and dates

The title picks
Setting aside defending champion Cross and former finalist Snakebite, there are plenty of interesting each-way contenders and two in the mix are the Welsh duo of Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton.

Are they among the best two or three players in the world? No, of course they aren’t. But this year you won’t have to be to make the final – you merely need to be the best player in a weaker half over a two-and-a-half week period and both are capable of that.

Van Gerwen’s quarter contains six major winners while Price’s contains just two.

The former rugby player has headed to London in princely form having controversially dotted up at the Grand Slam. Price won few friends with his renowned on-stage histrionics although watching his opponents dissolve in the face of his pantomime celebrations says more about them than it does about the Welshman.

He knows the crowd will be on his back but he doesn't seem to care less. More than that, he’s playing better than ever at the end of a trying year which saw a disappointing Premier League debut and an Achilles injury.

This autumn he has made colossal strides with two quarter-final appearances and a semi in TV ranking events before his success in Wolverhampton.

Clayton is in Cross’s quarter which means he has hit the jackpot with Voltage in no sort of form.

The Ferret has a potentially tough opener against Dimitri van den Bergh but he looks good under pressure, as demonstrated at the Grand Slam where he beat Van Gerwen in a group game and then pushed the same opponent all the way in the quarter-finals.

The Players Championship Finals runner-up last autumn, Clayton reached the quarters again this year to emphasise his solid form. And, given the draw, solid might be all it takes to make it to a world final.

Recommendations
G Price
2pts each-way 35-1 Betfair
J Clayton
1pt each-way 150-1 BoyleSports, Sky Bet

The quarter masters
Because of the seedings and the draw more names than ever are appearing on the forums as possible winners with Premier League finalist Michael Smith, fourth in the title betting, highly thought of.

Joe Cullen, like Bully Boy blessed with the smoothest of chucks, and Mensur Suljovic are warm orders while Adrian Lewis, twice a winner before and emerging from a lull, has raised eyebrows at a big price. Raymond van Barneveld and Simon Whitlock are aiming to do it for the old guard while James Wade has won two TV titles this autumn to show he has still got something to offer.

The one who is easiest to swerve is arguably Van Gerwen. His odds would usually represent a heck of a price for the world number one but he actually looks short enough given an autumn in which he has appeared vulnerable, especially on big doubles, and has lost too many games. Sooner or later that has to tell.

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And his quarter is laden with proven winners. Because the Dutchman takes so much out of any market – he’s 4-9 to win his section – there’s stacks of value in his wake, particularly Whitlock who is playing the best darts of his life (according to him at least). He’s certainly contended consistently all year.

Anderson is odds-on in the second quarter but so fragile is the silky Scot these days that players can get under his skin.

The obvious contender is Daryl Gurney, who thrashed Ando 3-0 en route to the World Grand Prix semis and a month later was being crowned Players Championship Finals winner.

Recommendations
S Whitlock to win first quarter
1pt 12-1 Hills
D Gurney to win second quarter
1pt 5-1 general

Simon Whitlock believes he's in the best form of his long careerCredit: Kelly Deckers/PDC

The long shot
Jamie Lewis was a 500-1 chance when he reached the semis 12 months ago and that was a far stronger field with the big guns in form, Cross in sizzling nick, and Phil Taylor bidding for one last hurrah.

So it wouldn’t take much for another big-priced outsider to emerge and Gabriel Clemens fits the bill at 1,000-1.

Forget Max Hopp, Clemens looks the best German darter at the moment. A World Masters semi-finalist last year – a 3-0 whitewash of Jamie Hughes the pick of his results – he immediately chanced his arm with the PDC and won one of the European Q-school heats to get his card.

Gaga has reached a Tour final – pipped by Anderson after beating Wright in the semis – and the burly burgermeister from the Saar warmed up for Ally Pally with wins over Andrew Gilding and James Wilson at the Players Championship Finals. He’s a massive scorer and if the doubles click he can batter anyone.

Recommendation
G Clemens
1pt each-way 1,000-1 BetBright, BoyleSports

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