20/11/2020

Draw Grand Slam of Darts knockout stage: Van Gerwen and Anderson to clash in Round Two

After the conclusion of the Grand Slam of Darts group stage on Thursday night, attention turns to the knockout stage and the draw and schedule has been revealed.

Played over two nights (Friday November 20 and Saturday November 21), the Quarter-Final line-up will be finalised to set up a bumper finish to the tournament on Tuesday at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.

How to watch 2020 Grand Slam of Darts live

The big tie which will be one of two headliners on the Saturday will be Michael van Gerwen taking on Gary Anderson. A familiar battle between two of the fiercest rivals in recent years but a different complexion to usual.

Van Gerwen has breezed past the group stage seeing off Adam Hunt, Gabriel Clemens and Joe Cullen and had his fate sealed going into the final night. But by his own admission, he is not back to his best in a year which has been a testing one for the World Number One.

There are signs though that he is heading back towards his dominating form and will have 'The Flying Scotsman' as his next test.

A former two time World Champion though who is suffering visibly with a knee injury but still he has continued and has still been able to produce some quality darts.

The other tie sees Gerwyn Price face Nathan Aspinall. 'The Iceman' has emerged over the past year as one of two main contenders to Van Gerwen's crown as the world's best and based on the post World Championship Order of Merit, either Price or Peter Wright will take over as World Number One potentially.

But unlike Van Gerwen, Price has gone through some battles while Wright is out and is the big name casualty so far. The former is a two time back-to-back champion in this event but nearly lost out to Mikuru Suzuki on the opening night and handed Ryan Joyce an agonising defeat after 'Relentless' had him on the verge of elimination.

While Aspinall looked good against Wayne Warren and Ricky Evans despite the brilliance of Dimitri van den Bergh seeing a 5-1 defeat.

Van den Bergh who has been the standout player at times in the group stage will take on Jonny Clayton to begin the opening night.

Ian White and Adam Hunt snatched spots in the knockout stages with two points each as Peter Wright and Joe Cullen both missed out and they will also feature.

They take on Simon Whitlock and James Wade, both of whom have been going through some impressive spells as of late. As have Dave Chisnall and Jose de Sousa who headline the first Last 16 ties with a potential scoring masterclass between 'Chizzy' and 'The Special One'.

While World Cup partners collide as England's Michael Smith and Rob Cross are on opposite sides of the oche to begin Saturday night as they battle it out. The former in particular has been in exceptional form since that final defeat to Wales.

Then before the two top ties, two of the most in-form players on the PDC Tour this year collide in Devon Petersen and Damon Heta. Both first time PDC ranking winners and both continue to impress. Like De Sousa-Chisnall, it could be a must watch.