Free darts betting tips, preview and predictions for the ITV4-televised Masters in Milton Keynes

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Darts betting tips: Masters

0.5pts each-way Joe Cullen to win the Masters at 50/1 (1/2 1,2)

1pt each-way Dave Chisnall to win the Masters at 20/1 (1/2 1,2)

1pt Michael Smith to win the first quarter at 13/2

0.25pts Smith v Chisnall final at 100/1

A new era of darts begins this weekend as Gerwyn Price makes his bow as the world number one in the traditional curtain-raising event of the year.

It's obviously been more of a hectic month for him compared to the other players since his heroics at the World Championship due to all his media commitments and TV appearances - which included doing to a cross bar what he usually does to double top - but there's no doubt he'll be fired up to make the same start to the season that Peter Wright did 12 months ago.

However, while enjoying the limelight of becoming world champion isn't usually much of a disadvantage when it comes to preparing for the start of any normal season due to most players using January as a chance to take a much-needed holiday and some time away from the practice board following a hectic few months of major action, it might possibly be this time.

Firstly nobody has gone anywhere and secondly, they probably haven't had much else to do other than practice! But more importantly everyone in this field will have had motivating reasons beyond prize money to make sure they hit the ground running.

Whether that's to maintain momentum from a great end to the season, to bounce back quickly from a poor one, win a maiden major televised title or to stake a last-gasp claim for the final Premier League spot, everyone aiming at Price has something big to play for. This won't be viewed as a 'bonus exhibition' by any of them - even for those ranked 17-24 in the world who wouldn't normally qualify for this newly-expanded, unranked event.

Despite this being the first tournament since the 2014 World Championship where Michael van Gerwen hasn't been at the summit of the sport, the Dutchman still finds himself as marginal favourite to lay down a title-winning marker at the start of the season.

Apart from crashing out early with his brand new darts to Jonny Clayton 12 months ago, MVG has a superb record in this event having won it five times in a row from 2015 and 2019 so you can expect him to have made the most of his quieter January getting sharp.

Let's not forget he enjoyed a brilliant end to the season by winning the Players Championship Finals and then looked his old formidable force at the Ally Pally with averages of 109 and 107 before surviving a scare in a thriller with Joe Cullen and then being stunned by Dave Chisnall's scintillating 107 that earned him the PDC's televised performance of the season.

It was a special night that will go down in history as Chizzy's finest hour rather than anything negative about MVG and although he could have played better in the 5-0 whitewash, it's hardly on a par with those 'crisis' results from earlier in 2020.

At 5/2 he's certainly worth considering more than at any point over the past 12 months but for now I'll try and pick out some bigger value. Plus he's using this weekend to try out brand new darts again so we have to be wary of history potentially repeating itself against Clayton, who he could face first up again.

Top half

• (1) Gerwyn Price v (16) Joe Cullen/(17) Stephen Bunting
• (8) Gary Anderson v (9) Michael Smith/(24) Adrian Lewis
• (4) Rob Cross v (13) Glen Durrant/(20) Mervyn King
• (5) Nathan Aspinall v (12) Ian White/(21) Mensur Suljovic

Odds to win quarter one: Price 8/11, Anderson 5/2, Smith 13/2, Cullen 11/1, Bunting 22/1, Lewis 28/1

Odds to win quarter two: Aspinall 2/1, Cross 3/1, Durrant 11/2, King 11/2, White 15/2, Suljovic 15/2

Joe Cullen's clash with Stephen Bunting on Friday night could well be the tie of the round based on their best ever World Championship runs so it's pretty risky to side with either of them going far for that reason alone - not to mention the fact they will face Gerwyn Price in the second round.

However, I've got to roll the dice and take a chance on Cullen at 50/1 each-way after what I believe was a career-changing experience for him at the Ally Pally.

Using new darts that had helped him win a second title of the season a month earlier, a revived Cullen banished all his previous demons on the biggest stage of all by coming through an epic encounter against Jonny Clayton that went to a deciding leg.

The Rockstar then met MVG in one of the most enthralling matches in the tournament's history but despite throwing a record-equalling number of 180s for a fourth-round match (19), he agonisingly missed the bullseye on two occasions, including what would have been the most incredible of 164 checkouts.

Although he'll have been gutted to lose 4-3 having led 3-1, Cullen certainly didn't choke considering how well MVG came back at him and it's encouraging to see him speaking positively in various interviews about how the season went and his future hopes rather than dwelling on that disappointment.

The 31-year-old, who did beat MVG in a European Tour final back in October, was understandably guilty of doing that after he last lost a match of the ages against Gary Anderson at the 2018 World Matchplay when a fly disrupted his attempts to seal a famous win and he subsequently failed to kick on from that.

There's a different vibe surrounding him now and as his stock continues to rise, I'd expect him to win a big title this year - hopefully even this weekend. The 11/1 for him to win the first quarter is also tempting but if he gets through that then I'd be fairly confident he'd see off anyone from the second.

On value grounds, Michael Smith is going to be my back-up in this quarter at 13/2 if the Cullen dream fails to materialise.

Bully Boy will have done a lot of soul searching since his abysmal defeat to Jason Lowe at the World Championship, in which he won just three legs and missed a whole host of doubles while his negative body language gave his emotionless opponent plenty to feed on. He was a shadow of the player we saw capture two morale-boosting titles a month earlier and he's now plummeted down to ninth in the world rankings and out of the Premier League line-up... for now.

It could turn out to be a blessing in disguise that he didn't make the initial nine because it's effectively given him that extra urgency to get his game and his head right for what is already a pivotal weekend in his season. Don't let what happen in December completely cloud judgement and if he can pick up an early win and confidence against an even more troubled Adrian Lewis on Friday, then he will be the threat we know he can be.

If he does get his act together and get as far as the final for the second year in a row then he'll obviously give himself a great chance of snatching the 10th Premier League spot away from Dave Chisnall, who is widely thought to be in pole position. We'll get to his title claims later when we look at the bottom half of the draw but wouldn't it be something to see a St Helens derby final with that prize on the line? That's on offer at 100/1, and I can't resist a small go.

Dropping into the wide-open second quarter of the draw, many will fancy Mervyn King at an appealing 11/2 due to his fine form towards the end of 2020 and all the question marks surrounding his counterparts.

The Players Championship Finals runner-up, whose quest to finally win a televised PDC title at the age of 54 agonisingly ended with an 11-10 defeat to MVG, continued to roll back the years at the Ally Pally by defeating Max Hopp 3-1 with an average just shy of 100 before crushing the highly-fancied Jose de Sousa 4-0 in a sensational clash in which both players averaged around 104. He then fell short against Price in a 4-1 defeat despite averaging slightly higher with 98.

Glen Durrant has admitted he took a few weeks off since the worlds after struggling with form, confidence and illness towards the end of 2020 so it's hard to make a case for him right now while Nathan Aspinall has made a "drastic" equipment change to help him deal with behind-closed-doors temperatures.

He said: "It's something I've never done before but the back end of last year was pretty poor for me, so the only way is up. Without fans in at the moment the arenas we play in are a bit colder, and that sometimes means I struggle to grip my darts which leads to an incorrect release."

Aspinall has been practicing with his new 'aggressive' grip but it will be well worth waiting until you see him in action on Saturday afternoon before deciding if he's worth a punt.

As for Rob Cross, Mensur Suljovic and Ian White all three are under the radar after a poor seasons although the latter will be cursing his luck after averaging over 100 in an early Ally Pally exit. He's one of the outsiders to grab a Premier League spot but he'll need to win this title.

Second half

• (2) Michael van Gerwen v (15) Jose de Sousa/(18) Jonny Clayton
• (7) James Wade v (10) Dimitri Van den Bergh/(23) Chris Dobey
• (3) Peter Wright v (14) Krzysztof Ratajski/(19) Simon Whitlock
• (6) Dave Chisnall v (11) Daryl Gurney/(22) Jeffrey de Zwaan

Odds to win quarter one: MVG 8/11, Van den Bergh 4/1, Wade 5/1, De Sousa 9/1, Dobey 22/1, Clayton 28/1

Odds to win quarter two: Wright 11/10, Chisnall 5/2, Ratajski 17/2, Gurney 7/1, Whitlock 10/1, De Zwaan 18/1

The name Michael van Gerwen in the bottom half of a draw isn't something you see very often.

He'll open up against either Grand Slam of Darts champion Jose de Sousa or the man who beat him in the first round 12 months ago, Jonny Clayton.

The Welshman is being ignored in the betting at 28/1 to win the quarter but he is going to be a sizeable underdog in all three of his matches to achieve that unless fellow outsider Chris Dobey can spring a surprise against both Dimitri Van den Bergh and James Wade.

Although MVG is getting closer to where he wants to be performance-wise, he still currently lacks the fear factor he once had over his fellow players, including De Sousa who defeated him in a European Tour final back in October. While it would be no surprise whatsoever to see him go the distance in Milton Keynes, his odds are too short for me.

As previously mentioned, Dave Chisnall is in the box seat for the last Premier League spot having risen to sixth in the world off the back of his semi-final run at the Ally Pally but he needs to avoid an early exit to prevent others sneaking ahead of him in the queue.

Chizzy's sensational 107 average in beating MVG 5-0 wasn't his only superb display last month - he also posted a mark of almost 102 to beat Van den Bergh in a majestic showdown while he was also in the high 90s against both Danny Noppert and Keegan Brown.

Sure, he ran out of steam against Gary Anderson in the semi-finals but he should be fancied to get the better of Daryl Gurney or Jeffrey de Zwaan in his opening assignment - even though SuperChin did show a welcome return to form during a fine campaign that ended in a last-leg decider against Gerwyn Price in the quarter-finals.

He too is in with a shout of a Premier League place but given how troubled his 2020 was, a month-long break straight after restoring some confidence isn't ideal timing.

Peter Wright is obviously favourite in this bottom quarter of the draw but he's looked vulnerable ever since being so brilliant at the European Championship at the start of November and was unable to hold his nerve when his third-round clash at the Ally Pally with Gabriel Clemens went to the wire.

Snakebite, who has openly admitted to struggling with lockdown, also revealed his practice schedule has been affected by the lack of a tournament calendar, saying: "So I could have been practising as soon as I lost in the worlds up until now and wasted all my good darts. You’ve got to practice but I don’t want to overdo it." Perhaps he's not placing as much importance on this event as others in the field and I wouldn't be shocked to see him caught cold early doors.

He'll have a tough match on his hands against either Krzysztof Ratajski or Simon Whitlock, which is one of the hardest first-round matches to call.

All things considered in this half, Chizzy is worth taking on at 20/1 to win his first major title because even if he does come up against MVG again, at least he now knows how to beat him on TV.

Masters 2021: Daily Schedule

Friday January 29
Evening Session (1900 GMT)
TV Coverage: ITV 4
First Round (Best of 11 legs)

• Ian White v Mensur Suljovic
• Glen Durrant v Mervyn King
• Dimitri Van den Bergh v Chris Dobey
• Krzysztof Ratajski v Simon Whitlock
• Michael Smith v Adrian Lewis
• Daryl Gurney v Jeffrey de Zwaan
• Jose de Sousa v Jonny Clayton
• Joe Cullen v Stephen Bunting

Saturday January 30
Afternoon Session (1245 GMT)
TV Coverage: ITV 4
Second Round (Best of 19 legs)

• Rob Cross v Durrant/King
• James Wade v Van den Bergh/Dobey
• Nathan Aspinall v White/Suljovic
• Dave Chisnall v Gurney/De Zwaan

Saturday January 30
Evening Session (1900 GMT)
TV Coverage: ITV 4
Second Round (Best of 19 legs)

• Gary Anderson v Smith/Lewis
• Peter Wright v Ratajski/Whitlock
• Gerwyn Price v Cullen/Bunting
• Michael van Gerwen v De Sousa/Clayton

Sunday February 1
Afternoon Session (1245 GMT)
TV Coverage: ITV 4
Quarter-Finals (Best of 19 legs)

• Four Matches

Evening Session (7pm)
Semi-Finals (Best of 21 legs)

• Two Matches

Final (Best of 21 legs)

• Winner SF 1 v Winner SF 2

Posted at 1100 GMT on 27/01/20

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