WINNER: England

It's fair to assume that the outright winner will come from the top half of draw, given it contains the two joint-favourites for the tournament.

Netherlands are bidding to become the first nation to win four successive World Cups, but it's hard to see Jermaine Wattimena – who has never made it past the last 16 in a televised tournament – doing much of the heavy lifting.

With two of the top three 180 hitters in the Premier League season just gone, England's scoring power looks scary.

Michael Smith can often let a bad dart get to him, so it will be interesting to see how he reacts to the format on his World Cup debut. But, with the reliable Rob Cross on hand to mop up any pesky doubles, it's hard to see any leg going too drastically wrong.   

TO REACH THE FINAL: Wales

Wales have already lost two of the eight World Cup finals that have taken place, most recently in 2017 when Gerwyn Price was paired with Mark Webster.

The Iceman has come a long way since then, winning the Grand Slam of Darts, three other PDC titles and regularly going deep in high-profile events.

With world No. 15 Jonny Clayton alongside him, they head into this tournament seeded higher than ever before and are easily capable of another silver medal.

TO WIN THE QUARTERS

England | Netherlands | Belgium  | Wales

Assuming that England, Netherlands and Wales all live up to their reputations, then the only question mark is in Q3.

Scotland are the favourites but, with doubts persisting about their team dynamic, there's lots of reasons not to like their price.

Gary Anderson has only been seen on a big stage once since the Worlds, when he was knocked out in the last 64 of the UK Open.

Peter Wright, meanwhile, has done OK in the occasional tournament but went 11 games without a win at the end of the Premier League season, so it's hard to see him taking points off top opponents.

Belgium beat Ireland and England on their way to the quarters last year, when they ran into eventual winners the Netherlands.

With the gritty Kim Huybrechts and classy Dimitri van den Bergh in their ranks, they look the much better bet.

FIRST-ROUND UPSETS

Lithuania to beat New Zealand

New Zealand have lost three World Cup first-round matches in a row, the easiest of which was against Singapore last year.

Neither of their representatives this time around are inside the top 180 of the PDC's Order of Merit, meaning Lithuania's Darius Labanauskas (ranked No.84) is easily the best player in this tie.

Having dumped Raymond van Barneveld out of the Worlds, this wouldn't even be his biggest upset of the season.

Brazil to beat Sweden

Sweden have only won one of their last six first-round ties, and that was against Gibraltar.

Brazil beat Switzerland 5-4 in 2017 and thrashed Denmark 5-1 in their opener last year, with talisman Diogo Portela often saving his best for the biggest stages.

WINNING DOUBLE: 18

For a novelty market, it’s worth looking beyond the obvious.

Seeing as I’m backing England to win the tournament by virtue of Cross' finishing, then it makes sense to choose his favourite double, especially when it's available at such a tasty price.

Visit Betway's darts betting page.