World Grand Prix darts final: Gerwyn Price v Jonny Clayton predictions, odds, betting tips, statistics, H2H record & Sky Sports TV start time

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Yet another dramatic staging of this double-start major reaches its climax in Leicester on Saturday night and while we've seen no shortage of shocks and surprises over the past week, ultimately the trophy will be lifted by one of the two best players in the world right now, let alone Wales.

Gerwyn Price is bidding to become just the third different player in the tournament's history to successfully defend the title after Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen while Jonny Clayton is seeking his maiden televised ranking crown having shot to stardom in 2021 by virtue of winning the prestigious Masters and Premier League.

The Ferret headed into the tournament ranked 13 places below the world number one and should he triumph on Saturday night and pocket a cheque of £110,000 then he'll rise up to seventh, which still doesn't truly reflect his true status based on his electrifying seasonal form that he's backed up emphatically this week.

Nevertheless, it's the world champion who is 8/13 favourite to win his sixth televised major individual title in his 10th final while his 2020 World Cup winning team-mate is 13/10 in places.

My in-depth preview will hopefully provide you with everything you need to know, including details of all their previous meetings, detailed tournament stats and their routes to the final and best bets.

Darts betting tips: World Grand Prix final

2pts Jonny Clayton (-1.5 sets) to beat Gerwyn Price at 2/1 (General)

2pts Clayton to win and Price to hit most 180s at 7/2 (Sky Bet)

Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook

Gerwyn Price (8/13) v Jonny Clayton (5/4)

• World Grand Prix final, Saturday October 9
• TV Coverage & start time: Sky Sports, 2030 GMT
• Format: Best of nine sets. All Sets are the best of five legs. All legs must begin and end with a double, meaning that a player must hit a double before he can begin scoring in each leg.

HEAD-TO-HEAD RECORD

• Overall Head-to-Head: 11-5
  2021 Head-to-Head: 2-0
• Televised Meetings: 2-0 (1-0)
  2021 World Matchplay: 11-3 (2nd rd, July)
  2020 Grand Slam of Darts: 5-3 (Group, Nov)
  2020 UK Open: 11-4 (SF, March)
  2017 Players Championship Finals: 2-6 (2nd rd, Nov)
  2016 World Championship: 1-3 (1st rd, Dec)
• Finals: 0-1
  2018 Austrian Darts Open: 5-8 (April)
• Career PDC titles: 22-8 (TV: 6-3)
  2021 titles: 4-4 (TV: 0-2)
• Previous World Grand Prix record
  Price: Champion (2020), QFx1, R2x1, R1x3
  Clayton: R2x1, R1x2

Here's an interesting stat for you. Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton have played more doubles matches together (11) in World Cups since they first teamed up in 2018 than matches against each other in that same time (8) - and the world champion has won them all.

One of those includes a one-sided meeting in the second round of this year's World Matchplay, but they've only faced each other three times since they teamed up to win the World Cup for Wales in 2020.

That was a huge moment for the Ferret as it gave him that all-important first taste of major glory and provided the launchpad for him to go on and achieve great success as an individual over the next 12 months. Now it could be his time to get one over Price in one of the big flagship majors since the 2016 World Championship.

Incidentally this is the second time they've met in a PDC final, with the first being at the 2018 Austrian Darts Open - their last encounter before becoming Welsh team-mates - when Clayton won his maiden European Tour title.

2021 WORLD GRAND PRIX STATS

(Price stats listed first on the left)

• Average: 92.64 - 94.07
• 180s: 17 - 9
• Checkout %: 44% (40/90)- 55% (43/78)
• Double-in %: 45% (64/141) - 50% (65/130)
• 100+ Checkouts: 5 - 8

As far as the key stats go, Gerwyn Price has been by far the most prolific 180 hitter despite there being one match against Dave Chisnall when he strangely didn't hit any while the key to Jonny Clayton's success has been his incredible doubling at both ends of legs.

Overall he's averaged higher and has also been more consistent, with all his four being in around the mid-90s, whereas Price's 92.64 is somewhat inflated by his opening efforts of 100.82 and 93.19. His last two averages have both been in the 80s.

ROUTES TO THE FINAL

GERWYN PRICE

• R1: 2-0 v Michael Smith
  Average: 100.82
  180s: 5
  100+ Checkouts: 116
  Checkout %: 50% (6/12)
  Double In: 45% (9/20)
• R2: 3-1 v Mervyn King
  Average: 93.19
  180s: 5
  100+ Checkouts: 115
  Checkout %: 37% (10/27)
  Double In: 40% (17/42)
• QF: 3-0 v Dave Chisnall
  Average: 87.58
  180s: 0
  100+ Checkouts: 104, 100
  Checkout %: 39% (9/23)
  Double In: 86% (12/14)
• QF: 4-2 v Stephen Bunting
  Average: 88.99
  180s: 7
  100+ Checkouts: 0
  Checkout %: 53.6% (15/28)
  Double In: 40% (26/65)

As previously noted in the tournament stats section, Gerwyn Price has lost momentum when you look at how he's performed since becoming just the sixth different player to average over 100 during his first-round win over Michael Smith.

His post-match interviews have seemed despondent and negative despite the victories - most notably when branding the crowd 'pathetic' for booing him against Dave Chisnall - while he labelled his performance against Stephen Bunting as one of the worst that he's had and "nowhere near what I can play."

On his arm injury that caused a delayed reemergence to the stage for the third set, Price said: "I had a little bit of trouble with my arm but it was fine after that. I was just looking at myself, I just needed an extra bit of time."

Another performance like the last two nights - whether he's hampered by his arm or not - and he could be in big trouble.

JONNY CLAYTON

• R1: 2-0 v Callan Rydz
  Average: 95.1
  180s: 2
  100+ Checkouts: 170
  Checkout %: 60% (6/10)
  Double In: 50% (7/14)
• R2: 3-1 v Jose de Sousa
  Average: 94.95
  180s: 3
  100+ Checkouts: 116, 112, 110, 100
  Checkout %: 64.7% (11/17)
  Double In: 44% (17/39)
• QF: 3-2 v Krzysztof Ratajski
  Average: 91.44
  180s: 1
  100+ Checkouts: 150
  Checkout %: 68.4% (13/19)
  Double In: 58% (21/36)
• QF: 4-1 v Danny Noppert
  Average: 94.82
  180s: 3
  100+ Checkouts: 112, 108
  Checkout %: 40.6% (13/32)
  Double In: 49% (20/41)

Jonny Clayton has looked every inch a multiple major winner this week and fully deserves his place in a first televised ranking final since the 2017 Players Championship Finals, which he lost to MVG.

Not only has the consistency of his clinical doubling at both ends of legs piled pressure and misery on his opponents, but he's also had tremendous character to get out of sticky situations himself, even when they've been self inflicted due to miscounting or wayward busting of 100+ scores!

When finding himself 2-1 down in sets against the dangerous Krzysztof Ratajski, instead of wilting and dwelling on his errors, he roared back to win six of the next seven legs in imperious style while he also went for the jugular against Danny Noppert immediately after he lost the second set.

He's playing like he has full faith in his ability and is hardly ever failing to find at least one double with his opening visit in each leg - and that's knocked the stuffing out of his opponents so far. If Price goes through another slump then Clayton will make him pay dearly.

World Grand Prix final prediction and best bets

If this was the only darts tournament you'd ever watched, and knew nothing of either player's back story (obviously you'd have needed to watch without commentary!) then it's no brainer who you'd think should be favourite for the title.

However, we know how Gerwyn Price has incredible levels and can pull out his ridiculous A-game even after a run of mediocre performances when he'd previously just done what he needed to in order to win. And when he gets it going, how often do we see him slump mid-game? The closest was probably the World Championship final when he got towards the finish line, but even so he still got it quickly back together to win 7-3.

However, maybe we should just isolate this week because right now when you compare the standards, body language and confidence of both players, everything points towards Jonny Clayton. Is he odds-against purely on reputation? Even that seems unfair when you think he's won as many titles as Price this season with four, including the televised Masters and Premier League. Although Price wasn't in the latter, it didn't stop Ferret's belief sky rocketing for these huge occasions.

He his early season form had dipped somewhat during their last meeting at the World Matchplay but the Clayton we're seeing now is a ranking major winner in the making during these coming months and there's no reason why he can't start tonight - as long as he maintains his stunning doubling stats.

At the risk of being made to look foolish by the best player in the world, I fancy Clayton strongly enough to back him at 2/1 in the handicap market at -1.5 sets and it could even be heavier if the semi-final Price turns up.

The other bet involves 180s and even if Price has an off day you'd think he'll still fire in more 180s. He's managed 17 in 64 legs despite throwing none during 12 legs against Dave Chisnall while Clayton has only fired in nine in 65 legs despite playing consistently well. In 2021 overall, Price averages 0.30 180s per leg whereas his Welsh counterpart is at 0.27.

The Clayton win-Price most 180s combo is a best of 7/2 with Sky Bet but if you really think the real Iceman will turn up tonight, you might want to ignore everything you've read here!

• Score Prediction: Gerwyn Price 3-5 Jonny Clayton
• Best bets: Clayton (-1.5 sets) to win at 2/1 AND Clayton to win and Price hit most 180s at 7/2

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