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Gerwyn Price
Gerwyn Price

World Matchplay Darts: Night one predictions, betting tips, acca, order of play and TV time

By Carl Fletcher
Darts
Sat July 17, 2021 · 5y ago

The World Matchplay gets under way on Saturday night so check out Carl Fletcher's match-by-match predictions, best bets and a suggested acca.

The Betfred World Matchplay gets underway on Saturday night with four matches which feature three current major champions: Premier League winner Jonny Clayton, world champion Gerwyn Price and the defending World Matchplay champion Dimitri Van Den Bergh.

Here's our match-by-match guide of all the action...

World Matchplay: Saturday July 17

Dave Chisnall (4/9) v Vincent Van Der Voort (7/4)

  • Head to Head: 7-5 (TV: 2-2)
  • Meetings since start of 2020: 0-2 (TV: 0-1)
  • Last Meeting: 6-5 Van Der Voort (Players Championship 16, June 2021)
  • Career PDC Titles: 15-5 (TV: 0-0)
  • Titles This Season: 0-0

The opening match of the event is a match which was also a first round fixture in 2020, Dave Chisnall versus Vincent Van der Voort. On that occasion the giant Dutchman came out on top 10-6 before being eliminated at the quarter-final stage to Glen Durrant in a game that he looked to be in control of until he became unsettled and aggrieved by a Kirk Bevins call.

The quarter-finals is the best run both these players have mustered in this event previously and the draw suggests bettering that could prove to be difficult this year but both will feel this opening match represents a decent enough opportunity to progress to face the victor of the Dimitri Van Den Bergh v Devon Petersen clash.

Looking at the current year performances it’s not an easy to call to identify the victor. ‘Chizzy’ is yet to reach a Quarter-Final in any of the twenty floor events played thus far in 2021 and failed to qualify for any of the three Euro Tours last week. In the Masters and UK Open however he made the Quarter-Final of both events before succumbing to Peter Wright and Luke Humphries respectively.

Big Vinnie on the other hand qualified for two of the three Euro Tour events and has ventured to a Quarter-Final and Semi-Final on the floor this year.

Looking at their yearly stats. Chisnall remains a power score, averaging 95.63 for the year. He also remains one of the biggest 180 hitters in the game at 0.33 per leg with just two more until he registers his 200th of 2021. Both these stats are better than Van Der Voort at 92.51 and 0.19. Conversely however it’s the Dutchman who has the better leg and match win percentages at 55.4% and 62.7% compared to his opponents 53.4% and 58.3%.

It’s not an easy match to call and I think the 7/4 available for Van Der Voort is fairly decent considering he won this match last year and has won their sole meeting this year. It wouldn’t be a match I’d be wanting to get heavily involved in and I think the safer call is to go for the Dutchman on the handicap.

  • Score Prediction: Dave Chisnall 8-10 Vincent Van Der Voort
  • Suggested Bet: Vincent Van Der Voort to win +2.5 legs at 10/11 (SkyBet)

Jonny Clayton (8/15) v Dirk Van Duijvenbode (6/4)

  • Head to Head: 4-2 (TV: 2-0)
  • Meetings since start of 2020: 3-2 (TV: 2-0)
  • Last Meeting: 6-2 Dirk Van Duijvenbode (Players Championship 16, June 2021)
  • Career PDC Titles: 8-1 (TV: 3-0)
  • Titles This Season: 4-1 (TV: 2-0)

The second match of the night sees the newly crowned Premier League champion Jonny Clayton face off against Dirk Van Duijvenbode in what promises to be one of the matches of the opening round.

‘The Ferrett’ is having a blistering season. He’s already won the Masters and the Premier League plus had a very good run in the UK Open where he reached the Last 16. During that event he beat todays opponent 10-3, producing a stunning performance. His floor performances have been equally as stunning with two titles to his name, two runner up berths, a Semi-Final exit, two quarter-final runs and numerous Last 16 appearances. Hi seasonal average of 99.19 is only bettered by Jose De Sousa and Gerwyn Price and his match win percentage of 76.29% is only bettered by his Welsh World Cup partner, ‘The Iceman’.

Van Duijvenbode himself is enjoying a decent enough season. He’s already claimed a title on the floor and backed this up with a further runner up performance, a Semi-Final appearance and four Quarter-Final runs. His seasonal average of 96.39 is amongst the top echelons of the game and his 180 per leg ratio of 0.37 is only bettered by ‘The Special One’ Jose De Sousa. He too has a match win percentage in the 70+% bracket (71.01%) and his leg win percentage is marginally better than his opponent at 58.31% compared to Claytons 58.25%. He really does promise to be a belter.

Dirk won their most recent encounter at Players Championship 16 by six legs to two but over the past two seasons the pair have met on stage in both the UK Open and the European Championships and on each occasion it was Clayton who routed his opponent 10-3 and 10-4 respectively. That’s enough for me to favour the Welshman to come out on top but I don’t envisage the score line being so emphatic on this occasion.

On these two aforementioned matches the pair have amassed twenty five 180’s in twenty seven legs of darts. This could be a feature of this match in what should be played at a pace to suit both players.

  • Scoreline Prediction: Jonny Clayton 10-6 Dirk Van Duijvenbode
  • Suggested Bet: Both players to hit 5+ 180’s at 13/8 (SkyBet)

Gerwyn Price (1/5) v Jermaine Wattimena (7/2)

  • Head to Head: 5-2 (TV: 1-0)
  • Meetings since start of 2020: 1-0 (TV: 1-0)
  • Last Meeting: 7-0 Gerwyn Price (Premier League, August 2020)
  • Career PDC Titles: 19-0 (TV: 6-0)
  • Titles This Season: 1-0 (TV: 0-0)

The penultimate match of the opening night is Gerwyn Price vs Jermaine Wattimena

Jermaine is a late addition to the field following the withdrawal of Mensur Suljovic on medical grounds and that isn’t a bad omen if some of last year's events are anything to go by. He does however face a mammoth task against the current world champion, world number one and joint favourite for the event.

The pair met last year in the Premier League when ‘The Machine Gun’ was a contender and he was on the end of a 7-0 whitewash, averaging some 20 points less than his opponent. He was also walloped in the first round of this event last year, as he lost 10-4 to the polish eagle. That seemed to be quite a theme for Jermaine last year in the big events as he always seemed to run into an opponent in top form.

Jermaine isn’t in the best of form however himself and has not got past the Last 16 stage in any of the floor tournaments this year and he was eliminated in his first match at the UK Open. He’s currently on a 24 match run without a ton plus average and amongst these matches he’s been whitewashed twice. His seasonal average of 91.98 is only better than an out of sorts Glen Durrant amongst this Matchplay field, his 180 per leg ratio of 0.17 per leg is only better than two others here and he’s the only player other than ‘Duzza’ with a leg win percentage of less than 50% for 2021 at 49.66%. He really does face an uphill task here.

‘The Iceman’ on the other hand has the highest match win percentage of the year at 76.56%, the best leg win percentage at 60.56% and the second best seasonal average at 99.30. He’s even upped his 180 per leg ratio from 0.27 last year to 0.31 per leg this year. He’ll certainly want to make up for lost time having been ruled out for the Premier League after testing positive for Covid pre-event.

His form this year suggests he’ll take some stopping in this and I’m sure he’d love to add this to his trophy cabinet. The current World Champion and World Number One has been in very good form this year. He was eliminated at the Semi-Final stage in both The Masters and the UK Open in stage events and on the floor he’s reached the final on three occasion already, winning one and finishing runner up in two more along with numerous other good runs. The fact he lies seventh on the Players Championship Order of Merit despite missing several events underlines how dominant he could be here.

I certainly don’t envisage this being a tight encounter and expect Price to run out a comfortable winner and get off to a nice start in what could be another title winning week. This creates an issue in itself when trying to seek any value, the bookies see him equally as dominant here.

  • Scoreline Prediction: Gerwyn Price 10-5 Jermaine Wattimena
  • Suggested Bet: Price to win the match and hit the most 180’s at 4/6 (SkyBet)

Dimitri Van Den Bergh (1/3) v Devon Petersen (23/10)

  • Head to Head: 2-1 (TV: 0-0)
  • Meetings since start of 2020: 1-1 (TV: 0-0)
  • Last Meeting: 6-2 Dimitri Van Den Bergh (Players Championship 18, September 2020)
  • Career PDC Titles: 2-1 (TV: 1-0)
  • Titles This Season: 1-0 (TV: 0-0)

The opening night concludes with the reigning champion kicking off his campaign against Devon Petersen, in what could see a pre-match dance off.

At times Van Den Bergh looks the best player in events as he did in the Premier League, the Grand Slam and World Championship before falling just short. He made no mistakes in this event last year as he claimed the title with a tournament average of 97.89, where he checked out 18.75% of his ton plus out shot opportunities and had a 60% strike rate on Double 18.

Following a knee operation early in the campaign this year he’s now playing some top stuff. He won just 3 of his opening 14 matches but he’s now won 44 of his last 66 matches. He’s registered 20 ton plus averages in his last 40 matches and his seasonal average of 97.81 puts him right up there and his power scoring has enabled him to register a seriously impressive 180 per leg ratio of 0.37 per leg.

He was always known for his struggles on the floor but he’s put those theories to bed this year too, claiming the Players Championship Twelve title, he’s also finished runner up in another and made two semi-finals. He is big threat to all and a contender for the title this week.

Devon on the other hand is not in the same vein of form as last year. He’s yet to reach a Quarter Final on the floor this year and his highlight was a Quarter Final run in the UK Open, losing a last leg decider to Gerwyn Price.

His seasonal average is down to 92.21 this year compared to 96.85 last year and his formidable 180 hitting of 2021 has deserted him, dropping from 0.38 per leg to 0.25 per leg, winning just 52% of his matches now compared to 65% last year.

The pair met twice in 2020, both on the floor and they both won one each 6-2 but given the change in fortune in both men, you’d have to favour the Belgian to prevail here.

One other thing to note is in four matches this year Dimi has notched up the Big Fish, could be worth a little nibble if that’s the kind of bet you like at a bigger price for interest.

  • Predicted Scoreline: Dimitri Van Den Bergh 10-7 Devon Petersen
  • Suggested Bet: Dimitri Van Den Bergh to win, score over 4.5 180’s & checkout over 116.5 at 5/2 (SkyBet)

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