Players Championship 18: Prediction, Tips and Odds

Many of the world's top darts stars will line up at Players Championship 18 in Milton Keynes on Wednesday where Josh Rock is a player to keep an eye on.

Players Championship 18 betting tips and predictions

Josh Rock to win - 18/1

A field of 128 players will be toeing the oche at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes on Wednesday for Players Championship 18.

All of the players will have their eyes on the £15,000 top prize and trying to secure a place at the lucrative end-of-year Players Championship Finals, which features the top 64 players from the 30-event year-long Players Championship series.

Josh Rock has no fears about making the top 64 - he is currently eighth in the standings - and the Northern Ireland star, and proven winner, is set to be a factor at both PC (Players Championship) 18 and also PC19 on Thursday.

Rock is only 23 and one of the game's biggest talents. When he won the World Youth Championship in 2022 he was being tipped as a future world champion and world No.1 and both of those prophecies may yet come true.

But dealing with the acclaim and the hype saw him tread water in 2023 culminating in a dismal loss to Berry van Peer at the 2024 World Championship in December.

Since then, however, Rock has taken off and started to demonstrate what a generational talent he is going to become.

By the middle of April he had reached a couple of European Tour quarter-finals and a Player Championship final and then came the major breakthrough at the Dutch Darts Championship at the end of May.

Rocky produced ton-plus averages to beat Dirk van Duijvenbode and Gerwyn Price before going on to beat Jonny Clayton 8-4 in the final.

He went on to reach the last eight at PC14 and earlier this month won PC17, beating Joe Cullen in the final.

Martin Schindler to win - 33/1

These PC events are wide open, proved by the fact that the previous 17 events during 2024 have yielded 16 different winners.

The only man to win twice is Luke Littler, a non-runner in Milton Keynes this week after spending the last two weeks Down Under in World Series events in Australia and New Zealand.

Three other World Series stars, Luke Humphries, Rob Cross and Michael Smith, have also declined to play this week, though the other four members of that contingent - Gerwyn Price, Peter Wright, Dimitri van den Bergh and Damon Heta - are registered to play.

Another man down to play is former world No.1 Michael van Gerwen, last seen chucking a dart at last month's World Matchplay in Blackpool where he reached the final before going off to have mouth surgery.

The Green Machine needs to get his competitive edge back before the busy, money-spinning autumn ahead. And while it's almost impossible to imagine he won't qualify for the Players Championship Finals, he is currently a lowly 41st in the rankings and could do with securing his place.

It's very hard to know what sort of form Van Gerwen is in though the same cannot be said for Martin Schindler, the second selection.

The German is having a high-class 2024 with two quarter-finals, two semis and a win on the European Tour, beating Gerwyn Price 8-5 in the final of the International Open.

He has also produced a couple of last-eight showings in PC events and is a far better player on the floor, where the pressure is less, than up on the big stage. He can do well this week.

Gian van Veen to win - 50/1

Another youngster enjoying a stunning year is Gian van Veen, the 22-year-old Dutch sensation who is beating the big boys for fun.

Van Veen has reached two PC semis, won twice on the Development Tour - a stand-alone series for the next generation of the game's stars - and in June reached his second European Tour quarter-final of the year.

The Giant, as he is known, is fearless and playing well and these two days in Milton Keynes, with a few of the big boys sitting it out, are just the occasions that someone like Van Veen should be embracing.

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Players Championship 18 odds

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This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.