The PDC Home Tour concludes on Friday night

Darts betting tips: PDC Home Tour Championship Group preview featuring Gary Anderson, Nathan Aspinall, Jonny Clayton and Jelle Klaasen

By Chris Hammer

Darts

Sat June 06, 2020 · 6y ago

The PDC Home Tour comes to a conclusion tonight as Gary Anderson, Nathan Aspinall, Jonny Clayton and Jelle Klaasen eye the inaugural title. Our preview includes betting tips, routes to the final, running order, start time and details how to watch.

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Championship Group: Odds & Tips

Sky Bet odds to win title: Nathan Aspinall 6/4, Gary Anderson 13/8, Jonny Clayton 4/1, Jelle Klaasen 13/2

The inaugural PDC Home Tour started out as a stop-gap solution to give darts fans some live top-class action to watch as well as providing its players with some much-needed match practice from the comfort of their own kitchens, cabins, living rooms or bedrooms.

But since the first dart was thrown in the palace of Peter Wright exactly seven weeks ago on April 17, this fascinating tournament has been taken more seriously, the standards have risen and now we have four players desperate to earn their place in history by becoming the inaugural champion.

One of those wasn't even among the 100 Tour Card holders that initially accepted the invitation to take part but after finally getting his dodgy WiFi sorted, Gary Anderson appeared at the 11th hour and has since proved you can teach old dogs new tricks.

It would be quite some story if the Flying Scotsman can walk away with the title from his home in the depths of Somerset.

Do you know all the players who beat Phil Taylor at a major tournament?

Not only did he spark hilarity on social media three months ago when posting a picture of his lacklustre internet speed that received a whopping 15k likes, but he then - predictably - admitted online darts was a concept that baffled him.

The two-time world champion, who also revealed he'd just been preparing with old school practice, said: "It’s going to be a bit strange playing somebody over the net, I’ve never done it before. I think the youngsters do it all the time with all these new devices. It will be hard, it will be strange but fingers crossed I’ll get a win."

Then on big opening night - just two days before the end of stage one and therefore only having one opportunity to qualify for round two - Anderson said: "It is a bit hard. I have been pacing up and down at the back of the stage. I'm listening to the phone and I'm watching the iPad and I've not really got a clue what's going on. But I got there in the end."

That didn't stop him winning all three games despite admitting he threw some "absolute garbage" and he maintained his 100% record on his next appearance with much better performances, including a 110 average against Luke Humphries, to reach the semi-final.

On Wednesday he beat Jelle Klaasen, Dave Chisnall and Mike De Decker with 90+ averages so he arrives back at his home oche as the only finalist boasting nine wins out of nine.

Can he break the internet again tonight to land the title?

Some say his only motivations now are playing for the big trophy and the lucrative prizes but he was clearly bothered about this enough to change his internet provider, which is probably quite an ordeal for a self confessed technophobe who prefers the peace of the outdoors.

The 49-year-old is second favourite behind Nathan Aspinall, who lost his 100% record last night when Rob Cross beat him 6-5 with an average of 107 in a match of the highest quality.

Aspinall's average of 104.8 followed his own tournament best mark of 106.7 in a 6-5 triumph over Jonny Clayton while he held his nerve in a crunch clash with Joe Cullen that also went the distance to seal his place in the final.

I mentioned in the preview of his semi-final group that while the 2019 UK Open champion hadn't so far reached his peak performances, he's earned a reputation of being able to turn it on when he's pushed and doesn't tend to 'waste' his big averages for easy matches. And so it proved again.

My 9/2 selection to win last night's group, however, was Jonny Clayton and his success was a crumb of comfort to my remaining outright tournament tip Cullen bowing out in agonising fashion.

The Welshman, who has been admirably delivering food to the elderly and disadvantaged in a key worker role for the council during lockdown, averaged 100 when losing his only game of the Home Tour so far against Aspinall in a deciding leg, before bouncing back to beat Cullen 6-5 and thrashing Cross 6-1 to snatch top spot.

In terms of statistics, Clayton performed to a higher level than the other three finalists over the first two rounds - averaging over 100 twice in one night during the second stage - so it was no surprise to see him perform well again on such a classy yet pressurising night of darts.

I think he's overpriced and underestimated at 4/1 for the title.

Klaasen is the outsider of the quartet at 13/2 which is understandable when you consider he's only averaged over 90 on four occasions during his route to get this far and never above 95.

The former BDO champion has also suffered three defeats along the way and while this journey will no doubt restore a lot of his lost confidence, I think it's fair to say he'll need his opponents to have off nights against him.

Chris Hammer's Best Bet: Clayton to win the title at 4/1
Chris Hammer's Match Bet: Anderson v Aspinall to have over 9.5 legs, highest checkout to be over 117.5 and over 4.5 total 180s at 7/2
Chris Hammer's Double: Aspinall to beat Anderson and Clayton to beat Aspinall at 4.25/1
Sky Bet Price Boost 1: Aspinall to win all his matches either 6-0, 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 or 6-4 at 11/2 (WAS 9/2)
Sky Bet Price Boost 2: Anderson to win all his matches either 6-0, 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 or 6-4 at 7/1 (WAS 6/1)

ROUTES TO THE FINAL: Player-by-player form, results & averages

GARY ANDERSON

First Stage: Topped Group 30 (Report)

(89.7) Gary Anderson 5-1 Dirk van Duijvenbode (91)
(92.7) Gary Anderson 5-1 Dimitri Van den Bergh (83.7)
(87.2) Kim Huybrechts 2-5 Gary Anderson (92.9)

Second Stage: Topped Group 3 (Report)

(87.3) Gary Anderson 6-2 Nick Kenny (83.3)
(110.1) Gary Anderson 6-1 Luke Humphries (102)
(86.2) Jamie Lewis 3-6 Gary Anderson (98.7)

Semi-Final Stage: Topped Group 1 (Report)

(93.4) Gary Anderson 6-5 Mike De Decker (92.8)
(98.1) Gary Anderson 6-3 Dave Chisnall (89.3)
(87.7) Jelle Klaasen 2-6 Gary Anderson (92.8)

JELLE KLAASEN

First Stage: Topped Group 7 (Report)

(85.4) Jelle Klaasen 5-2 Gavin Carlin (85)
(96.2) Gabriel Clemens 3-5 Jelle Klaasen (93)
(92.7) Jelle Klaasen 4-5 Ryan Meikle (94.6)

Second Stage: Topped Group 1 (Report)

(93) Cristo Reyes 6-5 Jelle Klaasen (91.3)
(76.3) Ryan Murray 4-6 Jelle Klaasen (82)
(90.4) Jelle Klaasen 6-1 Peter Wright (80.7)

Semi-Final Stage: Runner-Up Group 1 (Report)

(86.5) Dave Chisnall 2-6 Jelle Klaasen (86.4)
(88.5) Mike De Decker 3-6 Jelle Klaasen (88.5)
(87.7) Jelle Klaasen 2-6 Gary Anderson (92.8)

JONNY CLAYTON

First Stage: Topped Group 8 (Report)

(96) Jonny Clayton 5-2 Adam Hunt (90.2)
(90.5) Jonny Clayton 5-3 Richard North (87.6)
(77.7) David Pallett 2-5 Jonny Clayton (92.8)

Second Stage: Topped Group 8 (Report)

(103.9) Jonny Clayton 6-3 Scott Waites (99.5)
(102) Jonny Clayton 6-3 Max Hopp (81.7)
(79.9) Carl Wilkinson 2-6 Jonny Clayton (91.9)

Semi-Final Stage: Topped Group 2 (Report)

(106.7) Nathan Aspinall 6-5 Jonny Clayton (100.2)
(89.7) Joe Cullen 5-6 Jonny Clayton (90.5)
(97) Jonny Clayton 6-1 Rob Cross (92.8)

NATHAN ASPINALL

First Stage: Topped Group 10 (Report)

(91.4) Nathan Aspinall 5-2 Steve Brown (85.8)
(98.5) Nathan Aspinall 5-2 Ryan Joyce (90.3)
(65.9) Simon Stevenson 1-5 Nathan Aspinall (85.6)

Second Stage: Topped Group 7 (Report)

(91.2) Nathan Aspinall 6-4 Jesús Noguera (94.6)
(86.6) Nathan Aspinall 6-2 Jamie Hughes (84.8)
(90.7) Jose De Sousa 4-6 Nathan Aspinall (89.7)

Semi-Final Stage: Runner-Up Group 2 (Report)

(106.7) Nathan Aspinall 6-5 Jonny Clayton (100.2)
(107.5) Rob Cross 6-5 Nathan Aspinall (104.8)
(97.3) Nathan Aspinall 6-5 Joe Cullen (92.5)

PDC Home Tour Darts: Championship Group fixtures

Click here for Sky Bet odds
The action begins at 1930 BST, and will include webcam footage of each player and their dart board, live score graphics and commentary from Dan Dawson. All PDC Home Tour action will be broadcast live on PDCTV for FREE to ALL registered PDCTV users, regardless of whether you have a paid or free membership
Each match is a best of 11 legs format, with two points for a win.

Friday - June 5

Nathan Aspinall v Jelle Klaasen
Gary Anderson v Jonny Clayton
Jelle Klaasen v Jonny Clayton
Nathan Aspinall v Gary Anderson
Gary Anderson v Jelle Klaasen
Jonny Clayton v Nathan Aspinall

HOW THE WINNER IS DECIDED

The table-topper will be crowned champion
If players finish level on points then leg difference will be used to decide positions. If still equal, then the winner of the match between the players will determine who finishes higher. In the event of a three-way tie where points and leg difference are also equal, then the highest overall average will decide who finishes top.

CLICK HERE FOR ALL THE MATCH-BY-MATCH SKY BET ODDS

CLICK HERE FOR ALL THE TOURNAMENT'S RESULTS, FIXTURES & FORMAT

How and when to watch?

The Low6 Home Tour Championship Group can be watched live and free through PDCTV for registered users (new users can sign up for FREE here), as well as through bookmakers' websites and international broadcasters.

Responsible gambling

We are committed in our support of responsible gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.

Sky Bet's responsible gambling tools are detailed here and if you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133, or visit begambleaware.org.

Further support and information can be found at GamCare and gamblingtherapy.org.

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