A bettor’s preview
If there is ever a sign that Christmas is almost upon us, then the start of the William Hill World Darts Championship is just that. Alexandra Palace will once again be the venue for the 29th edition of the tournament where defending champion, Gerwyn Price will be one of 64 of the world’s best darts players hoping to lift the Sid Wadell Trophy on January 3rd. Here at freebet.com we will bring you a shortlist of just some of the players in contention, bringing odds courtesy of our betting partners and tournament sponsors, Willaim Hill.
Gerwyn Price
- Odds: 7/2
World number one and last year’s champion, Gerwyn Price is the bookies’ favourite to make it back-to-back world titles. Price endured a frustrating start to 2021 after covid ruled him out of the Premier League but his form since has been on a steady incline. The Welshman reached the semi-final of both the PDC World Cup of Darts and the UK Open before going one step further in reaching the final of the World Grand Prix.
Price arrives at Ally Pally full of confidence after claiming his biggest win since last year’s World Championships; November’s Grand Slam of Darts.
Michael van Gerwen
- Odds: 9/2
Three-time world champion, Michael van Gerwen is yet to rediscover the form he displayed between 2014 and 2019 but the Dutchman remains a major threat to any player with world championship aspirations.
MVG has dropped to number three in the after an entire year without winning a single ranking tournament. However, he has consistently reached the latter stages of these events. In 2021 van Gerwen was a European Championship runner-up, three times a semi-finalist in the Premier League, World Matchplay and US Open whilst he also reached the quarter-final in Grand Slam of Darts and the Players Championship.
Whilst we’ve not seen vintage MVG in a couple of years you should write the Dutchman off at your peril.
Peter Wright
- Odds: 6/1
Fans favourite, Peter Wright has had an inconsistent 2021. Snakebite won both the World Matchplay and Players Championship as well as the World Cup of Darts for Scotland alongside John Henderson. Wright was also a losing finalist in the Grand Slam of Darts. However, the 2019 World Championship winner has not had it all his own way this year. Wright was dumped out of World Grand Prix and European Championships in round one and fared little better in the UK Open (round four) and World Series of Darts (round two).
Jonny Clayton
- Odds: 7/1
Welshman, Jonny Clayton was a revelation in 2021 and is the dark-horse for the World Championships. Clayton has never gone passed round three at the World Championships but heads to Ally Pally as arguably the in-form player.
Clayton won his first individual televised tournament when he defeated Mervyn King in the Masters. Since then, he has gone on to win the World Grand Prix, Premier League and World Series of Darts this year in what has been a career-defining year for The Ferrett.
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