PDC World Darts Championships

Six men have won major titles in 2018 - equalling the most ever in a season since the inception of the PDC. Of course, Taylor's dominance has gone, but the real change has been the strength in depth at the top, which has never been tougher.

Whoever wins this year, will have achieved a title in the toughest time to be a top tungsten chucker (last year aside perhaps), and we're backing Michael van Gerwen to continue to build upon his three titles to date. Anything less than doubling that total would be unacceptable to the Dutchman, but he recognises that winning titles in this era is becoming harder by the year.

Despite claiming just three titles this season, his underlying stats suggest he might have done better. He has added a hat-trick of semi-finals, and a Runner-Up trophy to the three titles (Masters, Premier League and World Grand Prix). Looking at some of the stats, he has left himself an outshot after nine darts in 55% of his visits this season - his nearest rival on that metric is Gary Anderson who is just 47%! and noone else can top 44%.

He has around a 51% of finishing a given leg within 15 darts given the chance to do so - again, Anderson is a weaker 43%, while when it comes to finishing inside 12 darts, he does so around 15% of the time - Anderson just 11% and noone else above 9%.

The Green Machine's lack of dominance in terms of titles has delivered a price of 13/8 on the Dutchman winning the title, and that's great value in our eyes.

In the second quarter, Gary Anderson will be disappointed to know he will meet MvG in the semi-finals if both men make it that far. He's been priced up at 8/11 to reach his quarter, and that means he'll need to beat Daryl Gurney, Dave Chisnall or Darren Webster potentially.

Gurney has a chance - he has an 8-7 advantage in the head-to-head, so the Scot hasn't enjoyed playing him, but there remains a gulf in class overall, and Anderson would go off a strong favourite in that one. He's made light work of Chizzy in the past (17-5 head to head) and has a 6-4 advantage over Webster, including the past four meetings.

He's timed his preparations well, reaching the final of the Grand Slam, and reaching the semi-finals of the Players Championships.

Finally, in the bottom part, it's anyone's guess who will come through. The likes of Peter Wright, Mensur Suljovic, Michael Smith, Rob Cross and Joe Cullen will battle it out, having benefited from the better side of the draw. Our pick is Suljovic who has reached the semi-finals in six of the last nine majors in which he has appeared. He's yet to enjoy a decent World Championships, but this could finally be his opportunity, and at 9/1 he represents value to reach the finall.

4pts MvG to win the World Championships at 13/8

2.2pts Gary Anderson to win Quarter 2 at 8/11

2pts Mensur Suljovic to reach the final at 9/1

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