It's been four months since we've seen major darts action on our television screens, but the second major of the PDC calendar is about to get underway - in very unique circumstances.
The last time the PDC graced out TV sets, aside from the Premier League, Michael van Gerwen triumphed over Gerwyn Price at the UK Open in a pulsating final, but as we all know, COVID-19 shut down the world as we know it.
Sports were majorly affected, but the PDC managed to create their own 'Home Tour', which provided a full month of entertainment and kept every single Tour Card holder active, and it proved to be a fantastic initiative - with Nathan Aspinall emerging victorious.
Darters will have been patiently waiting for the moment where they could get back to proper action though, and last week the PDC returned with their 'Summer Series', held at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes.
It was strictly managed and there were a number of new social distancing protocols in place, and with no positive tests for coronavirus, things all seemed to run very smoothly - aside from pretty much every player going for a fist bump with their opponent post-match, despite the PDC forbidding players having contact with others.
The 32 best players will return to Milton Keynes for the next week as the second major tournament on the calendar - the World Matchplay which will go ahead behind closed doors.
The iconic competition is normally hosted at a packed-out Winter Gardens in Blackpool, but viewers will instead tune in to an empty arena this year, with just two players, two scorers, a referee and an announcer on the stage.
This situation has happened as recent as 2018, where adverse weather conditions forced the UK Open in Minehead to go behind-closed-doors but these are entirely different circumstances.
The top 16 ranked players from the PDC Order of Merit are matched up randomly against the 16 'best of the rest' players from PDC Pro Tour earnings over the past 365 days, which is money picked up on the European Tour and the Players Championship tournaments.
Looking at the betting odds for the tournament winner, it'll probably come as no surprise that Michael van Gerwen is at the top of the market as a general 13/8 shot.
MVG won the UK Open four months ago, and was able to claim two of the five Summer Series tournaments last week, yet was beaten to the top prize overall by reigning world champion Peter Wright.
There's no doubting that when he's at his best, no one can touch 'Mighty Mike', however in the behind-closed-doors setting he has shown signs of vulnerability in Milton Keynes.
On the final two days of the tournament, van Gerwen went out early to Joe Murnan and an in-form Devon Petersen respectively, and the man himself admitted he hasn't been practicing as much due to the arrival of his second child earlier this year.
It's hard to believe that MVG won't be at his best for such a big tournament, but there will be a host of players looking to take his scalp should he be off-form. These include his first round opponent Brendan Dolan, who has had quite a resurgence in the last year.
As mentioned earlier, Peter Wright was crowned the Summer Series champion, and he dethroned van Gerwen at Alexandra Palace on New Years Day to become world champion for the first time ever.
He was given possibly the toughest of first round draws though in the form of Jose De Sousa, who topped the averages over the five days of the Summer Series with an incredible 100.5.
De Sousa hasn't set the world alight on the big stage just yet, succumbing 3-0 to Damon Heta at the World Championship in December last year, but he has become one of the top 'floor players' in the world, and the fact that there will be no crowd at the Matchplay will boost his chances no end against 'Snakebite'.
Another player who tends to throw his best darts behind closed doors is Ian White, who is one of the worlds best darters, and he once again faces Joe Cullen in the first round.
Cullen will have bad memories of this match-up. He was thrashed 10-0 by 'Diamond' in Blackpool last year, and judging by the way both men were throwing in the Summer Series, another victory for White seems likely.
One player who loves getting into it with the crowd is Gerwyn Price - and sometimes it can be a curse for him - but there is no denying his ability, and when there is no-one booing him or getting on his back, he has thrown some monstrous averages recently.
You'd expect him to get past Danny Noppert in round one, and the 'Iceman' is one of only four players in single price figures to win the tournament, along with MVG, Wright and his potential quarter-final opponent - Nathan Aspinall.
The Asp is looking for his second major after making his breakthrough at the UK Open in 2019, but some of the top 16-ranked players are still looking for their first big PDC winners medal.
Michael Smith is one of those names, and his performances at the Summer Series weren't ones to take much confidence from if you were thinking about backing him for this event.
Many have suggested that 'Bully Boy' perhaps needs a sports psychologist to get over his lack of success at the top level of darts, and if he can piece everything together there's no reason why Smith can't win a big tournament.
He's in an extremely tough quarter though, and faces Jonny Clayton in round one who will probably need a decent run here to cement his place at the World Grand Prix in October.
The other first round matches in Smith's quarter see the current Matchplay champion Rob Cross take on the giant German Gabriel Clemens, who has been one of the rising stars of the last year.
Clemens has reached various finals, semi-finals and quarter-finals in the last 18 months, but 'Voltage' was one of two men to hit a nine-darter at the Summer Series, and it would be no surprise to see Cross in the last four at least.
Another man who has made great strides in the past two years like Clemens is Krzysztof Ratajski, with the Polish Eagle winning FIVE Players Championship events along with the Gibraltar Darts Trophy in 2019.
Ratajski will go head-to-head with Jermaine Wattimena, and once again on Summer Series performances Ratajski would have to be a clear favourite.
A non-seeded player who has a huge chance of causing an 'upset' of-sorts though is Jamie Hughes, who made his PDC breakthrough last year after winning the Czech Open.
Hughes reached the last eight of the UK Open this year and gave van Gerwen a really good game at World Grand Prix in 2019, and in Mensur Suljovic he faces a man who has had a very up-and-down 12 months.
Suljovic has won two tournaments since last years last 16 Matchplay finish, but he succumbed to Fallon Sherrock at Ally Pally and the stats would say that Hughes slightly outperformed Mensur over the course of the Summer Series.
Other big names are hoping to get back on track at the Matchplay, including 2018 champion Gary Anderson, who is defending his £115,000 in prize money won from that tournament and takes on Justin Pipe, who missed the last two days of the Summer Series due to an arm injury.
Another man with past major success is James Wade, and he comes into the Matchplay in good form having won the day four of the Summer Series, and he may have one of the easier ties on paper as he takes on Keegan Brown.
For the likes of Simon Whitlock and Adrian Lewis though, they need to re-find their form of many years ago if they want to make a splash this year.
Both men are battling to stay inside the top 16 of the Order of Merit, and Whitlock has to contend with Ryan Joyce in the first round, a man who took out many top names to win day two of the Summer Series.
Lewis has been on a bit of a slump for a while. His Summer Series performances were pretty disappointing and he takes on a seasoned veteran in Steve Beaton in round one, a man who seems to age like a fine wine and has retained all his ability at the age of 56.
The last three first round games to talk about all come from Peter Wright's quarter, and there are some big names which could make for some competitive games later in the tournament.
Three-time BDO World Champion Glen Durrant had a fantastic first year in the PDC after winning his Tour Card at Q-School, and has already climbed to 15th in the Order of Merit.
That's down to some superb performances at last years Matchplay, the Grand Prix and the Worlds, and should he get past a tough test in Jeffrey De Zwaan, he takes on the winner of Wright and De Sousa.
In three attempts over a longer distance, Duzza has never defeated Wright, so he may be hoping for the Portuguese thrower to perform some magic - but De Zwaan will also be looking to have his say, having taken the scalp of van Gerwen at this tournament in 2018.
Dave Chisnall is another talented thrower who is yet to win a PDC major, which is surprising considering he has been hanging around at the top of the game with the best of them over the last seven years.
He takes on Vincent van der Voort, a man who can take out the top players on his day, but hasn't had many of those in recent times.
And finally a man who will be looking to add to his trophy cabinet is Daryl Gurney, who takes on the 'fastest darts player in the world' Ricky Evans.
Gurney has already reached the UK Open semi-final this year, and ranked 7th in the table for Summer Series averages, and there's every chance he can recover from the less-than-successful 2019 he endured, where he only won two Pro Tour tournaments.
When you take everything into consideration, it's hard to see past the top three ranked players in the form of van Gerwen, Wright and Price, but the experience of Glen Durrant may be worth taking a shot on at 25/1 - and if you fancy De Sousa to carry on his form and shock Peter Wright, he is 80/1 to win the whole thing on SkyBet.
Despite the lack of crowds, the Matchplay is set to be an incredibly exciting event for the PDC, and if we see the kind of averages that were hit at the Summer Series, it could be one of the best in recent memory.
RECOMMENDED BETS
Jamie Hughes to beat Mensur Suljovic in Round One - 5/4
Ryan Joyce to beat Simon Whitlock in Round One - 11/10
Steve Beaton to beat Adrian Lewis in Round One - 6/5
Rob Cross to win his quarter of the draw - 7/2
Glen Durrant to win the 2020 PDC World Matchplay - 22/1 each way
Jose De Sousa to win the 2020 PDC World Matchplay - 66/1 each way
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