There’s very few constants in life these days, but we know a shed load of money will be wasted by Premier League clubs, Donald Trump’s tweets will have us scratching our heads and Phil Taylor will clash with Raymond Van Barneveld in a mega darts match.
One of those things has to come to an end at the dawning of the new year and before you get your hopes up, it’s not the Donald’s presidential reign. Unfortunately, Planet Darts is losing its kingpin, with ‘The Power’ announcing he’ll hang up his shirt for good after the 2018 World Championships in January.
However, there’s still some fun to be had before the switch turns off on the sport’s greatest ever player and he faces his fiercest rival Barney tonight, for what may be the last time on our goggleboxes.
Real Madrid v Barcelona has got nothing on this derby and we’re going straight for the bullseye with these three ballsy bets tonight.
Raymond van Barneveld to have the most 180s and lose match – 11/5
Throughout their storied careers, Taylor and Barney battered the red bit worse than Conor McGregor pummelled his opponents in the Octagon.
However, with the retirement on the horizon The Power has seen a drain on his numbers when it comes to hitting the maximum. Meanwhile, van Barneveld can still slug it out with the best of them in the 180 stakes on his day.
We can’t see Taylor exiting a tournament he’s won 15 times later tonight, but we expect Barney to pick off more top shots, given that he scored three times as many 180s than The Power did in the first round.
Taylor v Barney 🎯 Who will win the World Matchplay at the world famous Empress Ballroom? #TaylorBarney #LoveTheDarts https://t.co/lGS2PNrWnV
— Sky Sports Darts (@SkySportsDarts) July 26, 2017
A 170 checkout in the match – 11/1
Having had to solve more darting combinations than a Rubik’s Cube over the last few decades, you really couldn’t rule out either player pulling off the ultimate outshot in darts tonight.
Taylor relishes a challenge and has already taken out a massive 151 checkout against Gerwyn Price in his opening contest.
For his part, Barney only managed a single 100+ finish as he was pushed all the way by Joe Cullen. However, don’t be surprised to see these two old foes bring the best of each other later and we may see a top of the shop later because of it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcunon3dc0M
Either player win in a sudden death leg – 20/1
Any excuse to bring up the greatest darting contest of all time. It’s now 10 years since this pair went all the way to a sudden death leg to decide the faith of the 2007 world title.
The Dutchman eventually landed a double-top to win in a match that will live long in the memory of darting folklore.
It would be quite fitting if proceedings went all the way later and can you really discount it with these two legends?
Hit a winning double on Darts on PaddyPower.com* All odds correct at time of posting