The only way is Essex as O’Sullivan and King prepare for second round

Defending World Championship title holder Ronnie O’Sullivan and fellow Essex potter Mark King appear to be good value for a second round snooker double.

O’Sullivan enjoys a near-perfect record against rival Allister Carter and their repeat of last year’s final is likely to produce a similar outcome in favour of The Rocket.

Meanwhile, Mark King has progressed to this stage on six previous occasions and he could be finding the form needed to finally progress to the quarter-finals and break that last eight duck.

Combined, a double involving O’Sullivan and King pays nearly 6/1 and there are plenty of reasons to believe that both can advance to the latter stages at the Crucible.

Having beaten Carter on 14 of the 15 occasions that they’ve met, O’Sullivan appears to have a massive psychological edge.

It could be signficant enough to dispel any doubts concerning his lack of recent match practice.

Carter has also failed to emerge past the last 16 of his six previous tournaments this season and that dip in performance is perhaps significant heading into his clash with a four-times winner and snooker icon.

Rather than plump for a 4/11 single on Ronnie or even a double involving fellow favourite, China’s Ding Junhui, taking a chance on King could pay dividends.

There’s no doubt that Ding deserves respect, especially after his recent triumph in the PTC Grand Final.

But the self-confessed weight of pressure coming from a country where he represents around a billion perople might prove too much to bear.

The pair share honours this season with King victorious at the Shanghai Masters and Ding more recently at the Welsh Open.

And it’s King who can relish the tag of underdog heading into this latest contest as he aims to eliminate a player who’s fallen at this stage three times in the last five years.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing