On current form, it would take a brave man to bet against Gerwyn Price. ‘The Iceman’ was at the peak of his powers when sweeping aside Chris Dobey in emphatic fashion on Wednesday night. Price almost delivered a record-breaking Matchplay average last time out, registering a staggering 108.73, not to mention he converted 11 of his 15 attempts at doubles. It was a truly remarkable performance and one that further cemented Price’s status as one of the best darts players on the planet right now.

As for Josh Rock, his victory over Michael van Gerwen showed that he is finally starting to emerge as a force, though it also highlighted that he’s not quite the finished article yet. The Northern Irishman made a sluggish start against MVG and he can ill-afford a repeat of that against Price on Friday night. 

While I fully expect ‘Rocky ‘to play his part in a top-class tungsten tussle here, on the evidence of what we have seen so far, I suspect that he will ultimately find Price too hot to handle in a race to 16.

I think it would be safe to assume that we will see a barrage of 180s from Rock and Price on Friday night. The duo are two of the heaviest scorers on the PDC circuit, evidenced by the fact that they are both residing in the top-10 of this season’s 180 leaderboard.

There are multiple different 180 angles that could be considered for this contest, but I’m keen to back Price to produce 8 or more maximums of his own. After hitting 6 180s in his round one win over Daryl Gurney,  ‘The Iceman’ crashed through the 400+ barrier for 180s scored this year by unfurling 8 in his demolition of Chris Dobey on Wednesday night. 

When Price last reached this stage of the competition back in 2022, he hit 9 maximums in his win over Jose de Sousa.