Adam Williams presents his prediction for the Players Championship match.
Kyren Wilson and Mark Allen will play in the first round of the Players Championship. This game is very important for Mark Allen, who is at risk of not playing in the third Players Series event.
Kyren Wilson
Kyren Wilson has already won three tournaments this season – the Xi'an Grand Prix, the Northern Ireland Open, and the German Masters. He also played in the Masters final, where he lost to Shaun Murphy (10:7). At the last World Grand Prix, Kyren beat Matthew Selt (4:3) but then lost to John Higgins (4:2). This is now the third tournament where the world champion has won his first match but lost the second. This happened not only at the World Grand Prix but also at the World Open and Welsh Open, where Kyren lost to Zhou Yuelong and Joe O'Connor. If Kyren beats Allen, his next opponent will be either Ding Junhui or Mark Williams, so there will definitely be no easy matches for Wilson.
Mark Allen
Mark Allen is currently ranked 15th in the season rankings, and if Allen wants to play in the final tournament of the Players series, he needs to reach the Players Championship final, only then will he enter the top 12 players of the season. Allen won the Snooker Championship, but it was an invitational tournament, and Mark did not receive ranking points for this victory. And after the Masters, Mark played six matches, four of which he lost - to Wu Yize, Yuan Sijun, David Lilley and Jimmy Robertson. This is a very unpleasant period of the season, and Allen needs to get back into shape as soon as possible to start preparing for the World Championship.
Kyren Wilson vs Mark Allen Prediction
In head-to-head matches, Kyren Wilson has a slight advantage - Wilson won seven matches, Allen - six. But all these matches were before Wilson became world champion, and now Kyren plays much more confidently. The same can be said about Mark Allen, after Allen focused on the balance between attack and defence, his game became much more complete, and trophies began to come much more often. I think we are in for a tough match between two players who are in approximately the same form. Kyren made more big breaks and centuries, so a slight advantage is on his side, but we think the most important thing in this match will not be breaks, but the ability to play coolly in scrappy frames.
