Grand Slam of Darts 2nd round: Wade and Barney in headline battle

The Grand Slam of Darts is the last major title Taylor still holds and he is excellent value as 11/4 second favourite to retain it in Wolverhampton, but first The Bull stands in his way.

By no means an easy opponent, Terry Jenkins (9/2 for a shock second round victory) has put himself back on the map of late, though his history of head-to-heads against The Power stretches back a long way and is not favourable.

These two veterans have tussled 45 times so far, with Taylor losing just four of those oche encounters. So, The Power is odds-on at 1/7 to win this battle between evergreen arrowsmiths, having previously also beaten The Bull at the final hurdle in this very tournament in 2008.

Jenkins did triumph in the last scrap between the two, so this should not be a walkover, with 15/2 a tempting price for this match between old masters to end 10-7 to Taylor.

Robert Thornton v Robbie Green

The Thorn (1/3 match favourite) is still riding the crest of his underdog wave, having lifted the World Grand Prix trophy ahead of world number one Michael van Gerwen.

Ranked at number six himself, feisty Thornton is no outsider here for his fray with Green, who at 85th is slowly making his way back up the rankings after his return to the PDC earlier in the year. Still, this is no story of David and Goliath, as Kong has clocked-up two victories from four clashes against The Thorn before, which makes the Merseysider a tasty tip at 9/4 to progress and scupper his prickly peer once more.

Gary Anderson v Mark Webster

The Flying Scotsman (1/7) came through the group stage unscathed as expected and, having recently narrowly missed out on European Championship glory, should enter the knockout rounds all guns blazing.

Anderson is certainly in-form, with all his averages over 101 so far, and has won 11 dust-ups on the trot versus Webster. However, The Spider impressed in his pool with two wins, and coincidentally last defeated Anderson on the Grand Slam stage in 2010. Can Webster catch The Flying Scotsman again? Odds of 9/2 could be a stretch too far now the Scot is soaring again.

James Wade v Raymond van Barneveld

Certainly, this match should be the jewel in Wednesday evening’s crown, with two perfectly matched PDC stars aiming to avoid an unwanted early exit.

The Machine won his group with ease, impressively racking up three victories for a perfect start, which is why the English oche star is odds-on at 8/13 to win this.

However, fan favourite Barney has turned on the class again of late and looks much more enticing at 13/10 to snatch this. Dutch darting hero Van Barneveld pulled two brilliant back-to-back checkouts out of the bag against Larry Butler to book his place in this battle, and recorded an impressive 105.93 average against group winner Gary Anderson, so looks excellent at evens to score the highest checkout here.

Previous head-to-heads between these two are close, though Barney edges it with 21 wins to 18, and crucially ousted Wade at the semi-final stage of the Auckland Masters this summer when it really counted.

That game finished 10-6 in the dangerous Dutchman’s favour, though this result could be better value to back at 17/2 to go all the way and end 10-9 to revived Barney.

View Van Barneveld’s recent post-match reaction:

“doubles for dough” @raybar180 quotes the famous saying after late, LATE win in Wolves https://t.co/CWsAbW4vsj — PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) November 9, 2015

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Coral’s top tip: Back Barney to see off Wade once again @ a terrific 13/10