As with all events pretty much, your starting point for an outright selection is often Luke Humphries, Littler or both. On this occasion, it is Humphries we are siding with in a quest to defend his crown.

Littler is not readily overlooked but the first two rounds are relatively short format matches and he kicks off with Rob Cross, a player who defeated him in the opening round of the World Grand Prix, then either Ritchie Edhouse or Luke Woodhouse in round two. Both are tricky opponents. We’re happy to swerve him on this occasion, as short as 4.0 for the title.

For Humphries, however, the draw has been a bit kinder in that he faces Gabriel Clemens in the first round, not the most straightforward of matches but one you’d expect ‘Cool Hand’ to come through seven or eight times out of ten. He is also a better player than both Raymond van Barneveld and Chris Landman, who he’d face in round two. The matches then ramp up to the best of 19 legs and from that point, the world no. 1 will take some beating.

He does have to bounce back from an early elimination in the Grand Slam but he had other things on his mind as his young son was poorly; that can be forgiven and should he bounce back this weekend, he’s the one to beat.

The ‘Flying Scotsman’ is in the same quarter as Luke Humphries and looks to be the one who can take advantage of any slip-up from the World Champion. He starts off against Ryan Meikle and that is certainly one of the better opening-round ties for the big boys.

Ando has been the best player on the Players Championship circuit this season in terms of standard as he averaged in excess of 100 for the entire campaign. He played in 21 of the 30 events and reached the quarter-final or better in a seven of them, which included two titles.

He will be gutted to have lost in the semi-final of the Grand Slam of Darts to Luke Littler (16-15), especially from a winning position, but he didn’t do much wrong throughout that event at all, ‘The Nuke’ just showed his extraordinary talents to deny him and but for him, there’s no doubt Gary Anderson would probably be coming into this as Grand Slam Champion.

A few years ago, it appeared Anderson’s career may have been on the decline but he’s looked stupendous these past two seasons, so much so that he starts this event as third favourite behind the two Lukes. In truth, you can say that outside those two, Gary is the most likely winner.

Bunting will relish the section of the draw he is in and 34.0 is a very nice price to get him onside.

He couldn’t have picked a better first-round match in Mario Vandenbogaerde and provided he turns up like his usual self he should have little problem coming through that encounter.

His quarter is represented at the higher end by Peter Wright, Michael Smith, Josh Rock and Jonny Clayton, all of whom he should fancy his chances against. The first three were eliminated in the group stages of the Grand Slam of Darts, Rock was actually a casualty of Bunting’s victory over him and Clayton failed to qualify for the event full stop.

While he didn’t win a Players Championship event in 2024, he was a runner-up on six occasions, including a trio of events back-to-back in events 24, 25 and 26. It was Gary Anderson who derailed his progress in Wolverhampton this past weekend, as ‘The Bullet’ paid for a slow start, he put up a spirited performance to lose 10-6 in the end and is hoping to go a bit further than last year, where he lost in the quarter-final to Michael van Gerwen.