World Darts Championship: Monday's semi-finals preview, predictions, odds, betting tips, stats, order of play & TV times

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They say cream rises to the top and sure enough, after three weeks of shocks and drama, four of the world's new top 10 are left to battle it out for the Sid Waddell Trophy.

Michael van Gerwen, Nathan Aspinall, Peter Wright and Gerwyn Price have won 25 titles between them this season and although you know who has bagged 14 of them, it's still a pretty fitting semi-final line-up to complete a wonderful 2019.

The 'dream' MVG v Price final, which was as short as 3/1 before a dart was thrown, is regarded the most likely outcome but could there be a twist in the tale?

EVENING SESSION

• TV Coverage: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)
• Semi-finals: Best of 11 sets
• Full World Championship draw & schedule

Peter Wright (5/4) v Gerwyn Price (8/13)

• Head-to-head: 13-5, 1 draw (TV: 5-4, 1 draw)
  2019 Meetings: 1-3 (TV: 1-3)
  Career PDC titles: 27-9 (TV: 5-2)
  Titles this season: 4-5 (TV: 1-1)
• Routes to the SFs
  Wright
  3-2 v Malicdem (Av: 96.53, 180s: 9, Doubles: 16/33)
  4-2 v Asada (Av: 94.42, 180s: 8, Doubles: 16/37)
  4-3 v de Zwaan (Av: 96.39, 180s: 12, Doubles: 19/37)
  5-3 v Humphries (Av: 105.86, 180s: 12, Doubles: 18/37)
  
  Price
  3-2 v O'Connor (Av: 90.98, 180s: 3, Doubles: 12/26)
  4-0 v Henderson (Av: 104.2, 180s: 7, Doubles: 12/27)
  4-2 v Whitlock (Av: 92.47, 180s: 3, Doubles: 12/32)
  5-1 v Durrant (Av: 99.69, 180s: 8, Doubles: 16/34)
• Tournament stats (Wright first)
  Average: 98.25 - 96.18
  Best Ave: 105.86 (v Humphries) - 104.2 (v Henderson)
  180s: 41 - 21
  100+ checkouts: 13 - 5
  Highest checkout: 170 - 136
  Doubles: 69/144 (47.92%) - 52/118 (44.07%)
  Legs won/lost: 69/52 - 52/35

Peter Wright and Gerwyn Price could both so easily have fallen at their first hurdles but now they stand on the cusp of the World Championship final.

In Snakebite's case it was two visits of pure genius that saved his skin in a deciding set against Noel Malicdem - albeit only after blowing an earlier chance to win himself - and even pondered whether it'll end up being one of those 'written in the stars' moment.

In Price's case he was the grateful benefactor of William O'Connor's unfathomable brain freeze at 2-2 in their deciding set, when he took aim at double one when he required four.

Since then the two-time Grand Slam of Darts champion, who absolutely dismantled Wright in last month's final to retain his title, has strolled into the last four with a couple of superb displays against John Henderson and Glen Durrant either side of a lethargic one against Simon Whitlock.

That said, the Henderson game could have been much close than the 4-0 scoreline had the Scotsman not missed 20 double attempts out of 24 while Duzza will be disappointed with his performance, apart from his 100+ finishing.

Wright, who won his first TV title against Price in the 2017 UK Open when the Welshman was beginning to make his presence felt in the game, laboured to victory over Seigo Asada before almost crushing Jeffrey de Zwaan 4-0...only to end up being taken to a deciding set.

The 49-year-old raised the bar in scintillating fashion in the quarter-finals against Luke Humphries as he added four more 100+ checkouts to his tournament high tally of 13, including the eighth 170 of the campaign and a 161 on the bulleye.

His average of 105.86 was the best he's ever managed at the Ally Pally while the 123.83 he managed in the fourth set was the highest recorded by any player in a set for two years.

When Wright, who also set a new average record for a broadcast match earlier this winter, is in one of those kind of spells he's very hard to live with but can he do it for long enough against Price?

The Iceman does have the mental edge over Snakebite - and indeed everyone apart from MVG - and I think he'll come through what I expect to be a thriller of potentially absurd quality.

Three bets that catch the eye are Wright to hit three or more 100+ checkouts at 7/4, Price to win and hit 12+ 180s at 5/2 and the match to have over 38.5 legs, a high checkout of over 141.5 and more than 22 maximums at 3/1.

Prediction: 4-6

Michael van Gerwen (1/8) v Nathan Aspinall (5/1)

• Head-to-head: 2-2 (TV: 0-0)
  2019 Meetings: 1-2 (TV: 0-0)
  Career PDC titles: 133-3 (TV: 53-2)
  Titles this season: 14-2 (TV: 8-2)
• Routes to the SFs
  Van Gerwen
  3-1 v Klaasen (Av: 96.28, 180s: 1, Doubles: 11/25)
  4-0 v Evans (Av: 96.75, 180s: 10, Doubles: 12/28)
  4-0 v Bunting (Av: 104.09, 180s: 7, Doubles: 12/25)
  5-2 v Labanauskas (Av: 99.5, 180s: 6, Doubles: 18/40)
  Aspinall
  3-1 v Baggish (Av: 95.38, 180s: 5, Doubles: 10/26)
  4-3 v Ratajski (Av: 98.45, 180s: 8, Doubles: 18/42)
  4-2 v Anderson (Av: 97.97, 180s: 11, Doubles: 16/40)
  5-3 v Van den Bergh (Av: 95.31, 180s: 11, Doubles: 18/49)
• Tournament stats (MVG first)
  Average: 98.99 - 96.87
  Best Ave: 104.09 (v Bunting) - 98.45 (v Ratajski)
  180s: 24 - 35
  100+ checkouts: 8 - 5
  Highest checkout: 170 - 122
  Doubles: 53/118 (44.92%) - 62/157 (39.49%)
  Legs won/lost: 53/29 - 62/50

I'm hoping that anyone who read my pre-tournament preview will also be rooting for 40/1 each-way selection Nathan Aspinall as much as I am to reach the final.

And if that can be against Gerwyn Price, which would bring home my 50/1 'name the finalists' selection, then there will be none of that usual post-Dartmas January blues.

However, this scenario will still seem rather fanciful to many fans considering Michael van Gerwen is 1/8 favourite to end the Asp's second successive semi-final run at the Ally Pally.

The defending champion may not have been consistently firing on all cylinders across his four games but he's cruised through with the minimum of fuss and will be ready to explode into top gear if and when his buttons are pressed.

Aspinall's route has been a lot tougher and had to show the same kind of character, fighting spirit and flashes of brilliance that helped him become the UK Open and US Darts Masters champion in this incredible season.

And to think the turning point that made this 12 months possible was his comeback from 2-0 down against Gerwyn Price in last year's second round as a 500/1 tournament outsider.

The Stockport thrower has spoken about how that gave him the mental strength to compete with the very best and that mindset helped him get through four pretty hard-fought battles to make it nine wins from 10 matches on the biggest stage in darts.

His main areas of concern have been his finishing, which is statistically the worst of the final four, and his tendency to allow his opponents back into matches when closing in on victory, namely Krzysztof Ratajski and Dimitri van den Bergh.

Aspinall won't be fazed by his first televised meeting with Michael van Gerwen, who he's beaten twice this season including a 6-1 hiding back in February, and this set play format does give him a greater chance than if it were a long legs race.

I'm going to stick with him to win a classic but if you're unconvinced then you can back him at 7/4 on the handicap with a 2.5 set start.

Another option would be 11/4 on the match to have over 34.5 legs, a high checkout of over 141.5 and more than 20.5 total 180s.

Prediction: 5-6

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