Grand Slam of Darts: Taylor backed with handicap to beat Smith
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The business end of the Grand Slam of Darts is almost upon us with the action in Wolverhampton now at the quarter-final stage.
Saturday will see the tournament favourite and the sport’s biggest name in action as Phil Taylor takes to the oche.
The Power’s route to the final will be made all the easier now Michael van Gerwen’s name has been removed from the hat thanks to Kim Huybrechts.
The Hurricane sent the world champion into a spin with a phenomenal performance which featured a nine-dart finish to take the 21st leg, in a match the underdog took 16-10 on the night.
Huybrechts now faces Dave Chisnall in the first of the Wolverhampton semi-finals, where the Belgian is the 8/11 favourite to topple the Englishman.
Meanwhile, The Power is naturally the overwhelming fave for his tie against Michael Smith, but there is better value to be had by taking the handicap route.
The Power’s detractors are quick to say the Stoke thrower is past his best but a 2014 three-dart of average of 100.79 begs to differ.
Taylor’s tournament scores or 5-0, 5-1, 5-3 and 10-4 show he is at his imperious best and is likely to make light work of the man they call The Bully.
Smith has won just two of his 10 meetings with Taylor and with a three-dart average of 88.48 this year will need to throw the darts of his life to give the Power a close match.
