The 2026 Paddy Power World Darts Championship continues at Alexandra Palace on Thursday so check out Chris Hammer's match-by-match predictions, best bets and a suggested acca.
PDC World Championship: Thursday Preview & Acca
SL Acca: 1pt Wattimena (-1.5 sets), Sherrock (+1.5 sets) & Ratajski (-1.5 sets) all to win at 5/1 with Paddy Power
Scroll down for match-by-match previews, stats and scoreline predictions
Evening Session (1900 GMT)
- TV Coverage: Sky Sports
- Format: First round, best of five sets
Jermaine Wattimena (1/7) v Dominik Gruellich (9/2)
- Three-dart average (2025): 94.79 - 89.10
- 180s per leg (2025): 0.26 - 0.15
Jermaine Wattimena is widely regarded as an outsider to watch in the fourth quarter of the draw having enjoyed another season on improvement, so an early stumble seems unlikely.
The Machine Gun's climb into the top 20 in the world has helped him qualify for all but one of the majors and recently reached the semi-finals of the Players Championship Finals, where he averaged over 100 in three of his four wins.
Wattimena also won a couple of Players Championship titles in the latter part of the season but he won't take Dominik Gruellich lightly considering the young German did manage to reach a Pro Tour final in his first year with a Tour Card.
However, the gulf in class and experience will probably be too much for him to overcome.
Scoreline Verdict: 3-1
Dave Chisnall (1/5) v Fallon Sherrock (7/2)
- Three-dart average (2025): 91.80 - 80.94
- 180s per leg (2025): 0.33 - 0.16
It only feels like yesterday when Fallon Sherrock was breaking the glass ceiling of the Ally Pally but it's now been six years since she last won on this stage and another tough draw won't help her cause this time.
She's had to face the likes of Steve Beaton, Ricky Evans and Jermaine Wattimena in years gone by while Ryan Meikle denied her a crack at Luke Littler 12 months ago when edging a fifth set.
The Queen of the Palace is here by virtue of being a very distant runner-up to the relentless Beau Greaves in the Women's Series and although her seasonal average doesn't stack up to a player of Dave Chisnall's quality, we've got to remember she has a history of pulling out the 90+ performances on the big stage.
Also, Chizzy doesn't exactly arrive with a great deal of confidence-boosting form behind him, especially in the latter half of the season, and some of the numbers he's been producing - such as a handful of averages in the 70s - will give Sherrock some hope of making this a close one.
Scoreline Verdict: 3-2
Michael van Gerwen (1/50) v Mitsuhiko Tatsunami (12/1)
- Three-dart average (2025): 97.23 - 82.18
- 180s per leg (2025): 0.29 - 0.11
Michael van Gerwen being 20/1 for the world title sounds pretty crazy when you consider he was runner-up back in January but he is the first to admit it's been a very poor season, clearly not helped by his family life away from the oche.
Nevertheless, he was still able to claim an emotional victory over Luke Littler to win the World Series Finals while he also reached the European Championship semi-finals in October and also ranks in the top 10 for averages this season.
MVG has been handed a very soft draw to get his campaign up and running against Mitsuhiko Tatsunami, who has been dubbed online to be the 'Japanese Stephen Bunting' due to a resemblance that I can't actually see.
Tatsunami, 52, won the Steel Darts Japan Tour to secure his spot but I feel he'll be happy just to pick up a leg or two.
Scoreline Verdict: 3-0
Krzysztof Ratajski (1/5) v Alexis Toylo (7/2)
- Three-dart average (2025): 94.41 - 86.54
- 180s per leg (2025): 0.17 - 0.20
SELECTION: 1pt 6+ 180s and 2+ 100+ checkouts in the match at 9/4 (Sky Bet)
If you've got a ticket for this session you might need to leave early if you have public transport to catch.
It might not be quite like those Australian Open tennis matches that finish at 3am in the morning but it won't be far off if it goes all five sets!
Krzysztof Ratajski met Asian Championship runner-up Alexis Toylo on this stage 12 months ago and while the averages were impressive at around 95 apiece, the snails pace of the match wasn't to most fans liking. To put it mildly.
Toylo's ridiculously slow style helped him shock Stephen Bunting with an average of 81 in a nine leg match at the Grand Slam of Darts that took over 30 minutes to complete - although Martin Schindler and Luke Woodhouse were able to brush him aside 5-2 apiece.
One thing is for sure, Ratajski won't care about Toylo's style as we saw last year and when you consider he's actually come into some late form with a win over Gian van Veen at the Players Championship Finals and a good performance in defeat against Josh Rock.
Neither player are known for being big 180 hitters but they managed five each in four sets last time they met here, and their styles may well bring the best out of each other once again, with some high outs as well.
Scoreline Verdict: 3-1
Afternoon Session (1245 GMT)
- TV Coverage: Sky Sports
- Format: First round, best of five sets
Callan Rydz (1/8) v Patrik Kovacs (5/1)
- Three-dart average (2025): 93.91 - 82.17
- 180s per leg (2025): 0.30 - 0.15
SELECTION: 1pt Callan Rydz to win, hit most 180s and highest checkout at 11/10 (Sky Bet)
The question on everyone's lips heading into this match is whether the Ally Pally wasp makes a home in Callan Rydz's hair again like it did 12 months ago.
The second question is whether Rydz can reproduce the same electrifying performances that lit up the venue during his run to the show-stopping run to the quarter-finals.
Sadly this kind of form has deserted him ever since - a bit like what happened in the 2022 edition when he came so close to the semi-finals and couldn't use it as a foundation for the next stage of his career.
The ability to produce star quality on the big stage is certainly there, but it's not happening enough to get himself qualified for many of the other big majors.
He has an easy opener against Hungarian Super League winner Patrik Kovacs, whose seasonal average and 180 hitting is leagues below what Rydz can do even in a disappointing season, and I expect him to cruise to victory and dominate all areas of the game.
Scoreline Verdict: 3-0
Thibault Tricole (4/9) v Motomu Sakai (7/4)
- Three-dart average (2025): 89.53 - 86.74
- 180s per leg (2025): 0.13 - 0.13
Thibault Tricole had the honour of opening the World Championship 12 months ago against one of this year's cult heroes in Joe Comito and managed to scrape through 3-1 with an 80 average before being thumped without winning a leg by Luke Humphries.
Since then he's been pottering around without much success in his second year as a Tour Card holder and isn't comfortably inside the top 64 by any means.
I can see a hard fought battle in coming with Motomu Sakai, who finished runner-up in the ever improving Asian Tour and his seasonal average isn't too much less than Tricole's 89.
Scoreline Verdict: 2-3
Ryan Joyce (1/3) v Owen Bates (9/4)
- Three-dart average (2025): 92.78 - 88.79
- 180s per leg (2025): 0.19 - 0.26
Ryan Joyce will potentially be a dangerous opponent for Gerwyn Price a little later down the line but his first job is to take care of the player formerly known as the Master.
Joyce featured in more majors this year than he ever has - six - thanks to his continued climb up the rankings in the past couple of seasons and while he didn't win any titles, he did reach a final on the European Tour.
Owen Bates is languishing well down the rankings in 80th and won't keep his Tour Card unless he goes on a miracle run at the Ally Pally, so this is an awful draw for him.
Scoreline Verdict: 3-1
Mike De Decker (1/33) v David Munyua (10/1)
- Three-dart average (2025): 94.00 - 75.05
- 180s per leg (2025): 0.32 - 0.08
Early in December, I asked Abigail Davies and Paul Nicholson to predict every tie of the World Championship but there was also a version where they had to keep putting through the player most likely to lose every game.
The World Champion of that version was David Munyua.
Before you start thinking 'well he's not even going to win a leg', his opponent in that mythical final was Nitin Kumar, who actually won his first match!
WATCH: PREDICTING THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP LOSERS!
All that said, he will do well to win a leg.
Munyua, from Kenya, qualified for the World Championship via the African qualifier and with a seasonal average in the mid 70s, this could be one of the most comfortable wins in the career of Mike de Decker.
Scoreline Verdict: 3-0
Darts: Related content
- World Darts Championship schedule & results
- Watch: Highest Prize Money winners in darts
- Watch: The most costly match darts ever
- Watch: Crazy darts facts and stats
- Is £1million for the world champion too much?
- 2025 Premier League Season
- 2025 PDC Darts Calendar
- How Littler won £1million in one season
- Should there be a Ryder Cup of Darts?
- Phil Taylor's crazy World Matchplay statistics
- What's easier, a nine-darter or a 147?
- Watch: Ranking the major winners in history
- Watch: Royal Rumble and other new tournament ideas
- Watch: How much do darts players earn?
- Watch: Is Luke Littler the next Phil Taylor?
- Watch: Building the perfect darts player
- Watch: How to become a darts professional
- How legends would fare today
- Troubles and triumphs
- Tournament ideas for darts
- 'What If' moments in darts
- Agony of missed match darts
- Good, Bad, Ugly: Nicholson on darts shirts
- Referees in darts
- Calling the shots in darts
- Weird actions in darts
- Hidden talents in darts
- Superstitions in darts
- Routes to glory
- Paul Nicholson's five darts drills
- Paul Nicholson's five mental tips
- Paul Nicholson's five practice games
- Worst losers in darts
- World number ones in darts
- Best players never to be number one
- Five characters in darts
- Do averages lie?
- Greatest Tournaments Ever
- Paul Nicholson's Ally Pally tales
- Watch all the Ally Pally nine-darters
- Players everyone hates to face
- Players everyone loves to face
- How to make it as a pro?
- How much money do players earn?
- Greatest darts rivalries
- Rivalries to cherish
- Be canny with counting
- Phil Taylor's greatest display
- Greatest World Championship displays
- World Cup of Great Darts performances
- Sky Bet's darts odds
