PDC World Darts Championship 2017 Forecast"

This Thursday, on December 15th, 2016 begins the PDC World Champs, so let’s look at the best outright value.

Michael van Gerwen

The favourite 1.75 standout of the PDC World Darts Championship 2017 is Michael van Gerwen. Since last summer he has become the winner of 12 out of 14 TV ranking tournaments. Because of this he is considered the leader, allaying being as short as 1.63 in places. Nevertheless, he lost two of the tournaments, against Robert Thornton at the Grand Prix 2015 and Raymond van Barneveld here in 2016, and they were set play format. However, he won more legs in these matches. In case there is one format he is susceptible to, it’s the set structure and he has become the winner of World Championship only once since his rise to the top in 2012. As to his meetings with better players in 2016, he did not always show his best. In September he lost to Phil Taylor 11-5 in inaugural Champions League of Darts. He won 2 out of 6 World Series Events and missed key doubles as the Netherlands lost in the final of World Cup. So this can be the cause of some misleading in the prices.

Gary Anderson

A twice winner of World Championship, Gary Anderson has 7.5 and he has good chances to become a three-time winner. But due to his recent changes in using a new design of dart and his new glasses, it is difficult to give the odds. He was in the semis of the Grand Slam, although this happened in the period between the 2nd round with Ron Meulenkamp at the Players Champs and the opening round with Joe Cullen at the World Series. Prior to this, he lost to James Wade at the first hurdle of the European Championship. This is evidence that he is not in the best form and setup right now.

Phil Taylor

The next favourite at 11-3 price is a 16-time World Champion Phil Taylor. Now his price is the best he has ever had. 2016 wasn’t one of the best years of 2015 runner-up. He won the World Cup, the Champions League of Darts and Sydney Masters. Although he does not have many titles, Taylor is still posting 100+ averages in defeats and constantly one or two key doubles that let him down. But this is evident in his price. It is possible that he will meet Adrian Lewis for a short at MVG to make the final which he’s 5/1 to do so.

Other candidates

Except for James Wade in May, none of these three players has won any important tournaments in 2016. Peter Wright, Dave Chisnall, Adrian Lewis, Raymond van Barneveld and even Wade are supposed to have chances in PDC World Darts Championship 2017, but they need to outperform the odds a lot. Taylor and Wright have similar prices, although Wright has never been the winner in a TV tournament. Nevertheless, his form can be the reason for such odds alongside with his presence in the opposite half to MVG and the Power. He is the finalist of 2014 and is only 4.0 to succeed. One of the possibilities to get Snakebite onside though seems to back him in the most 180s market. He was the 4th in many tournaments of 2016 and the joint 2nd in the Premier League.

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