Gerwyn Price and Dimitri van den Bergh are in action on Friday

World Darts Championship: Friday predictions, odds, betting tips, accas, order of play & TV times

By Chris Hammer

Darts

Fri December 21, 2018 · 7y ago

It's the final day of second-round games at the PDC World Darts Championship and our preview includes the order of play, match-by-match predictions, Sky Bet odds and a suggested acca.

What could be the longest second round in any global sporting competition ends today, with the likes of Gerwyn Price, Jonny Clayton, Dimitri van den Bergh and Ian White finally getting their campaigns under way at Alexandra Palace.

Once again there are eight games, with four in the afternoon and the rest in the evening.

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World Darts Championship: Friday December 21

AFTERNOON SESSION

Click on the odds for more Sky Bet match markets

TV Coverage: Sky Sports (1230 GMT)
First/Second Round: Best of five sets

Benito van de Pas (1/5) v Jim Long (7/2)

H2H: 0-0
2018 Meetings: 0-0
PDC Titles: 3-0
2018 Titles: 0-0

Jim Long is back but it won’t be for long, unfortunately.

The Canadian won my heart with the manner in which he was clearly enjoying his debut even when going a set down in his first-round match against Micky Mansell that seems a lifetime ago now. Last week to be precise.

He battled back to win with an average in the 70s thanks to Mansell’s poor performance and he’ll need Benito van de Pas to do the same.

I just can’t see that happening and although the Dutchman hasn’t won a title since he won three Players Championship tournaments in 2016, he should have too much firepower to record a routine victory

Prediction: 3-0

John Henderson (4/5) v Gabriel Clemens (1/1)

H2H: 0-2
2018 Meetings: 0-2
PDC Titles: 0-0
2018 Titles: 0-0

John Henderson’s rocking motion when throwing darts is somewhat hypnotic and further emphasises how there’s so many different techniques to being successful.

Well, I say successful but for Big John that means being steady away on the tour, protecting his impressively high ranking despite never actually winning a PDC title in all these years.

We’ve seen him pull off big results before – not least against Michael van Gerwen in the 2017 World Grand Prix – but Gabriel Clemens won’t be fazed.

The German, who was runner-up to Gary Anderson in a Pro Tour final back in May, has beaten the Scotsman in their previous two encounters this season and looks as though he’s getting the liking for the big stage.

He will need to brush up on his finishing, however, after missing 22 darts at double against an even more wasteful Aden Kirk in the last round but I fancy him to sneak a tight contest.

Prediction: 2-3

Steve West (4/7) v Richard North (11/8)

H2H: 0-3
2018 Meetings: 0-1
PDC Titles: 0-0
2018 Titles: 0-0

Steve West is enjoying one of his best seasons and recently became the latest player to shock Michael van Gerwen at a televised major.

West beat the world number one en route to the European Championship quarter-finals only to lose to Simon Whitlock while he’s also reached three semi-finals on the European Tour in 2018.

They are all played on the stage environment so this is why we perhaps can’t read too much into his lousy record against Richard North as all three defeats were played in floor events.

North will still be feeling pretty fortunate to be here after coming from two sets down to beat Robert Marijanovic although he did finish the match strongly and ended up with an average of 93 and 10 180s.

It’s another tough one to call but we could be going the distance yet again.

Prediction: 3-2

Kyle Anderson (1/6) v Noel Malicdem (4/1)

H2H: 0-0
2018 Meetings: 0-0
PDC Titles: 2-0
2018 Titles: 0-0

The contingent from the PDC Asian Tour have impressed everyone at Alexandra Palace and Philippines star Noel Malicdem has the chance to do what Seigo Asada came agonisingly close to doing and reach the third round.

One thing he definitely won’t have to worry about is Kyle Anderson doing a James Wade on him – but that’s not to say the Aussie won’t intimidate him with heavy scoring.

I saw Anderson warm-up for the World Championship with an impressive victory at the Dazzler exhibition event in Leeds and while that counts for very little, any tournament win surely breeds some confidence.

He needed it too having not enjoyed his best season and I reckon he’ll be too good for Malicdem, who averaged 85 against the hapless Jeffrey De Graaf on Wednesday.

Prediction: 3-0

EVENING SESSION

· TV Coverage: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)

· First/Second Round: Best of five sets

Ian White (1/6) v Devon Petersen (4/1)

H2H: 3-3
2018 Meetings: 0-1
PDC Titles: 10-0
2018 Titles: 3-0

The odds suggest Devon Petersen is being written off here but in this tournament of many shocks, would you really be that surprised to see him defeat Ian White?

Dancing Devon has beaten him as recently as October in a Players Championship event and that’s coincided with a rough run of form for White, who had been playing superbly earlier in the year.

In September he finally ended his wait for a title on the stage when winning the Dutch Darts Championship so if he’s managed to get back to that level of performance and confidence on the practice board then there’ll only be one winner.

Petersen was only averaging 85 in what was still an entertaining victory over Wayne Jones and while I’m expecting a solid win for White, I wouldn’t put you off going for the shock!

Prediction: 3-1

Jelle Klaasen (5/4) v Keegan Brown (8/13)

H2H: 0-0
2018 Meetings: 0-0
PDC Titles: 3-1
2018 Titles: 0-0

I can’t quite believe these two have never played each other in a tournament but that’s what all the data says.

It’s no real surprise to see a bullish Keegan Brown priced up as a warm favourite here now that he seems to be turning into the player we’ve all been waiting for.

The former World Youth champion’s body language was extremely positive during his 3-0 victory over Karel Sedlacek, in which he averaged 96, threw six 180s and hit 41% of his doubles.

Jelle Klaasen arrives at Alexandra Palace for his first game off the back of another difficult season in which he’s rarely gone deep in any tournament.

Prediction: 1-3

Gerwyn Price (1/3) v Nathan Aspinall (23/10)

H2H: 3-0
2018 Meetings: 1-0
PDC Titles: 4-1
2018 Titles: 2-1

Love him or hate him, it’s been an amazing year for Gerwyn Price, who recovered from an abysmal and embarrassing debut in the Premier League to win two titles including the prestigious Grand Slam of Darts.

His histrionics and celebrations against Gary Anderson overshadowed just what an incredible performance that was and there’s no doubt he’s taking his game to the next level.

While some say he crossed the line with the Flying Scotsman, he does at least show a sporting side in defeat as we saw at the Players Champioship Finals when losing a thrilling clash with Krzysztof Ratajski.

He’s no longer public enemy number one either in the wake of James Wade’s actions the other night but I’m not sure if Price will be happy about that or not!

As far as his opening match goes, I’d back him to come through in straight sets.

Nathan Aspinall did record a 3-0 win in his first-round match but that was mainly due to his opponent Geert Nentjes having an absolute nightmare on his doubles, missing 23 out of 27 attempts.

Price won’t finish that badly and I’d expect him to come blasting out of the blocks with his scoring too given how long he’s waited to get a piece of the action.

Prediction: 3-0

Jonny Clayton (6/5) v Dimitri van den Bergh (4/6)

H2H: 1-1
2018 Meetings: 0-0
PDC Titles: 2-2
2018 Titles: 1-1

As hot a prospect Dimitri van den Bergh is, I really think Jonny Clayton is worth backing at odds-against prices tonight.

The Welshman enjoyed a real purple patch earlier this season when he followed up his first European Tour title in Austria with a run to a Players Championship final and five more quarter-final appearances from April to June.

A lean spell followed but he rediscovered his touch at the Grand Slam of Darts to top a group including Michael van Gerwen, who then got his revenge in the quarter-finals in a close contest, while it was Gary Anderson who stopped him at the same stage of the Players Championship Finals.

Van den Bergh also reached the quarters in Wolverhampton, hitting a nine-darter along the way, prior to defending his world youth title but he looked well below par against Chuck Puleo even though he only dropped three legs.

Perhaps the standard of opposition dragged him down but he’ll definitely have to add 10 points onto his average of 85 to stand a chance tonight.

Prediction: 3-2

Suggested acca

Gerwyn Price, Jonny Clayton, Keegan Brown and Steve West all to win at 6/1

Suggested bets

Jonny Clayton to beat Dimitri van den Bergh, Keegan Brown -1.5 sets at 11/8

Kyle Anderson to win 3-0 v Noel Malicdem at 11/1

Gerwyn Price to win, throw most 180s and have highest checkout v Nathan Aspinall at 11/4

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Schedule for Saturday December 22

Afternoon Session (1230 GMT)
Third Round (Best of 7 sets)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports Darts

Joyce v Norris/Lennon (R3)
Dave Chisnall v Huybrechts (R3)
Daryl Gurney v Jamie Lewis (R3)

Evening Session (1900)
Third Round (Best of 7 sets)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports Darts

Suljovic/Searle v O’Connor (R3)
Gary Anderson v Jermaine Wattimena (R3)
Michael Van Gerwen v Max Hopp (R3)

Full World Championship draw and schedule