Gerwyn Price is out to win his first-ever PDC World Darts Championship tonight when he takes on two-time winner Gary Anderson at Ally Pally in the best-of-13-sets match.
Welshman Price defeated Stephen Bunting 6-4 semi-finals last night to reach the final, and then Scotsman Gary Anderson – who won here in 2015 & 2016 – saw off Dave Chisnall 6-3 to earn his spot in the PDC’s showpiece match. To guide us through the final, Chris Hammer from Sporting Life has dropped in to deliver his best bets, tips, preview and predictions for Saturday night’s action.
7.50pm – Gerwyn Price v Gary Anderson
Gary Anderson did such a great job of making everyone underestimate him in the lead up to the World Championship that he remarkably went off as a huge outsider, yet now here he is preparing for a fifth Ally Pally final a decade after his first. In a year in which he turned 50, the ageless Anderson still managed to reach a World Grand Prix final and the Premier League play-offs and no matter how he got there, it proved that he’s still one of the very best in match situations.
Should Gerwyn Price begin 2021 as world champion then it’ll be a culmination of three incredible years of building towards the very top and it’ll mean he become just the second active player on the planet to become world number one. Paddy make the Iceman favourite due to his overall title-winning form over the last 12 months, his stunning seasonal average, superior head-to-head record and, most crucially, how it appears as if he’s timed his run to perfection with the kind of blockbusting performance against Stephen Bunting that we’d been waiting to see all tournament.
Anderson has played six fewer sets and 23 fewer legs than Price has during what has been a relative coast through the rounds, so he should be feeling a lot fresher that he might have expected to be at this stage of a marathon tournament.
In terms of averages, both players have been pretty much level pegging in their individual match averages. Neither have been weighing with astronomically high figures but while there’s been a couple of lukewarm displays apiece, they’ve been pretty steady around the 97-100 mark. Price has been more prolific on the 180s – and also has a marginally higher maximum per leg ratio – but the biggest difference between the pair has been the Welshman’s superior finishing, especially in the 100+ range.
They don’t like to talk about ‘that’ Grand Slam final of 2018 (see video above) but the memories will create some needle up on the oche, even if it’s not obvious, and deep down Anderson would love nothing more to get proper revenge over two years on. Price will probably sense that and help him bring out more of the warrior inside him and we know that helps him produce his best darts.
With everything in mind, we really could see some fantastic numbers in a final of the ages – even without the atmosphere that has graced all the others down the years – so I’d look at a narrow 7-5 win for Price here in the best-of-13-sets match to claim his first World Championship.
Score prediction: Gerwyn Price 7-5 Gary Anderson
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