Van Gerwen returns as top favourite at PDC World Darts Championship

Michael van Gerwen has returned as favourite as betting odds have been released ahead of PDC World Darts Championship which begins a week on Tuesday.

Van Gerwen after a barren year lost his favourite status for the first time in a long time at the Grand Slam of Darts with Gerwyn Price taking over.

This was pre-tournament with Van Gerwen taking over after his opening win over Adam Hunt.

With title sponsors William Hill for the showpiece event, Van Gerwen sits at 5/2 ahead of Gerwyn Price who is at 5/1.

Peter Wright is at 6/1 to defend his title while Grand Slam champion Jose de Sousa comes in as fourth favourite alongside former finalist Michael Smith.

Dimitri van den Bergh, World Matchplay champion will be at 20/1 alongside Nathan Aspinall while Premier League champion Glen Durrant sits at 28/1 alongside Devon Petersen who is seeded for the first time after a brilliant year.

James Wade and former two time World Champion, Gary Anderson sits at 33/1.

Other former champions, Rob Cross (50/1) and Adrian Lewis sit well adrift.

5/2 Michael van Gerwen

5/1 Gerwyn Price

6/1 Peter Wright

16/1 Jose de Sousa, Michael Smith

20/1 Dimitri Van den Bergh, Nathan Aspinall

28/1 Glen Durrant, Devon Petersen

33/1 James Wade, Gary Anderson

50/1 Krzysztof Ratajski, Damon Heta, Dave Chisnall, Rob Cross, Simon Whitlock

66/1 Dirk van Duijvenbode

80/1 Jeffrey de Zwaan, Luke Humphries, Ian White, Daryl Gurney, Joe Cullen

100/1 Mensur Suljovic, Gabriel Clemens, Mervyn King, Jonny Clayton

125/1 Adrian Lewis

150/1 Chris Dobey, Ryan Searle

200/1 Danny Noppert, Jermaine Wattimena, Max Hopp

250/1 Keane Barry, Ross Smith, Vincent van der Voort, Callan Rydz, Ryan Joyce, Stephen Bunting

300/1 David Evans, Jeff Smith, Boris Krcmar, Darius Labanauskas, Scott Waites, William O'Connor, Kim Huybrechts, Steve Lennon, Jamie Hughes

400/1 Jason Lowe, Karel Sedlacek, Ron Meulenkamp, Brendan Dolan, Nico Kurz, Ricky Evans, John Henderson

500/1 Martijn Kleermaker, Nick Kenny, Jamie Lewis, Matt Campbell, Andy Boulton, Danny Baggish, Steve West, Keegan Brown, Lourence Ilagan, Luke Woodhouse, Niels Zonneveld, Mike De Decker, Steve Beaton

750/1 Madars Razma, Mickey Mansell, Ryan Murray, Derk Telnekes, Adam Hunt, Ryan Meikle, Andy Hamilton, Edward Foulkes, Maik Kuivenhoven, Wayne Jones, Bradley Brooks, Ciaran Teehan

1000/1 Diogo Portela, Daniel Larsson, Marko Kantele, Matthew Edgar, Haupai Puha, Toru Suzuki, Paul Lim, Lisa Ashton

1500/1 Gordon Mathers, Cameron Carolissen, Dmitriy Gorbunov, Danny Lauby, Chengan Liu, James Bailey

2000/1 Di Zhuang, Amit Gilitwala, Deta Hedman