PDC World Darts Championship: Day 15 semi-final predictions, betting tips, acca, order of play and TV time

And then there were four. And what a four. We've seen plenty of shocks and potential stars of the future emerge since the tournament began on December 15 but the player who lifts the Sid Waddell Trophy will be one of the biggest names in the sport. Stats, tips and previews for both semi-finals are below...

Darts betting tips: World Championship day 15

1pt James Wade to hit three or more 100+ checkouts at evens (Sky Bet)

1pt Smith v Wade to have 18+ 180s and 5+ 100+ checkouts at evens (Sky Bet)

1pt Wright to beat Anderson and hit most 180s at 11/10 (Paddy Power, Sky Bet)

Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook

SL Acca: Wright and Smith both to win and hit most 180s at 9/4 with Sky Bet

Sunday January 2: Evening session

• TV Coverage: Sky Sports (1930 GMT)
• Semi-finals: Best of 11 sets

Michael Smith (4/11) v James Wade (11/5)

HEAD-TO-HEAD RECORD

• Overall Head-to-Head: 4-17, 1 draw
  Televised Head-to-Head: 1-6, 1 draw
• 2021 Meetings: 0-0
• Senior Career PDC titles: 15-45
  Televised PDC Titles/Finals: 1/8 - 11/27
• Previous PDC World Championship appearances: 10 - 17
• Previous PDC World Championship Best: Runner-up 2019 - Semi-Final x3

2021 SEASON STATS

• 2021 Titles: 2-1 (TV: 0-1)
• Three-Dart Average: 96.49 – 95.9
• 180s per leg: 0.29 – 0.21
• Checkout percentage (Stage Events): 36.32% - 46.82%
• 100+ checkout per leg won: 10.77% - 13.51%

2022 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STATS

• Tournament Average: 100.54 - 87.67
• Tournament 180s (180s per leg): 43 (0.39) - 4 (0.07)
• Doubles hit (Checkout %): 65/134 (48.50%) - 36/90 (40%)
• 100+ checkouts (per leg won): 11 (0.17) - 4 (0.11)

You have to go back to a bygone era when players could reach the semi-final of a PDC World Championship without needing to average above 90 or throw many 180s but James Wade has made the most of his draw to do just that for the loss of just one set.

Sure, he had the 'benefit' of a bye when Vincent van der Voort tested positive for Covid but apart from that he was gifted the 'opportunity' to produce the bare minimum against Maik Kuivenhoven (3-1), Martijn Kleermaker (4-0) and a below-par Mervyn King (5-0) yet put them all to the sword, while he made more headlines for his comments about being apparently underrated by Wayne Mardle.

The Machine has generally been overlooked by punters in recent years despite his impressive trophy haul because we do live in a world obsessed by stats and the fact is, he just doesn't tend to put in those big 100+ averages as regularly or explosively as the other superstars around him in the game. We all know about his trademark timing and sometimes it feels as if he just chooses when to bother producing fireworks or not. After all, if his opponents are struggling so badly that they can be whitewashed with a 90 average, why go for 100?! His approach keeps himself off everyone's radar and helps him create this siege mentality every time he goes far in a major.

On the final day of this year's UK Open - as a prime example - he needed to average in the very high 90s to beat Simon Whitlock and Gerwyn Price and then raised it to 102 to see off Luke Humphries, who he'd just watched reach 107 in a 11-5 mauling of Michael van Gerwen about half an hour previously. When he needs to raise his game, he so often does. That's why he's been at the top of this sport for so long.

Could he about to turn on the style out of the blue and catch a potentially jaded Michael Smith cold?

Based on what we've seen so far, most people will be expecting the brilliant Bully Boy to win rather handsomely - he boasts the highest average of the remaining four players with 100.54 and has fired in an astonishing 43 180s at a rate of 0.39 per leg which is 39 more than Wade (0.07 per leg)!

More importantly he's shown tremendous character to come from behind and beat both player of the year Jonny Clayton and defending champion Gerwyn Price in absolute thrillers, when in past years he may have wilted under that kind of pressure.

His change in body language and mentality on the oche were the main reasons I tipped him pre-tournament at 25/1 because, after all, we've all known about his major winning potential and rich talents for many years. It was just a case of shrugging off this unfair 'bottler' tag and he's certainly gone a long way to doing that this week - he just can't slip up now against Wade otherwise some folk will try and reattach it to him.

My main concern is the fact he's played twice as much darts over the tournament (110 legs v 54) than a very fresh Wade, who even said in his post-match interview yesterday lunchtime that he hoped Smith or Price would tire themselves out. He doesn't even hide his opportunistic thoughts.

He's got what he wanted and now he'll be confident of reaching his first ever World Championship final on his 18th appearance, irrespective of what pundits and fans think. It's incredible to think that this is his 15th worlds in a row where he's been seeded among the top 10 and yet to make it, but he's like a vulture circling on a potentially wounded victim who he's beaten 17 times out of 21 meetings.

None of those, however, were against the 'new' Smith and if the St Helens man can just come back out and keep throwing in the same rhythm we've seen all tournament, then he really should get himself over the line, no matter how tough Wade makes it.

If we see at least eight sets then Smith will be very backable in the 180s markets but I'm also going to take a chance on Wade to hit three or more 100+ checkouts at evens.

He's only hit four so far but he's not really needed to given the scoring levels of his opponents while he's not been involved in that many legs either. Given Smith's scoring prowess he'll have no choice but to take out some of these big shots to stay in contention over what could be a longer match than many anticipate. And on tour this season, he does boast a pretty high 13.51% of legs won with a 100+ checkout.

Smith has also been smashing those in for fun and they can combine for five of those, which you can double up with 18+ match 180s at evens.

• CLICK HERE to back James Wade to hit three or more 100+ checkouts with Sky Bet
• CLICK HERE to back 18+ match 180s and 5+ match 100 checkouts with Sky Bet

Scoreline prediction: 6-4

Peter Wright (1/2) v Gary Anderson (13/8)

HEAD-TO-HEAD RECORD

• Overall Head-to-Head: 13-29, 3 draws
  Televised Head-to-Head: 6-14, 3 draws
• 2021 Meetings: 1-2 (TV: 1-1)
  2-6: Players Championship 19 (R3, July 7)
  3-8: Premier League Night 11 (May 6)
  7-4: Premier League Night 3 (April 7)
• Senior Career PDC titles: 42-56
  Televised PDC Titles/Finals: 11/29 - 15/30
• Previous PDC World Championship appearances: 12 - 12
  Previous PDC World Championship Best: Winner (2020) - Winner (2015, 2016)

2021 SEASON STATS

• 2021 Titles: 6-0 (TV: 2-0)
• Three-Dart Average: 97.59 – 95.25
• 180s per leg: 0.31 – 0.26
• Checkout percentage (Stage Events): 39.75% - 35.25%
• 100+ checkout per leg won: 11.9% - 11.29%

2022 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STATS

• Tournament Average: 99.08 - 94.46
• Tournament 180s (180s per leg): 31 (0.33) - 21 (0.20)
• Doubles hit (Checkout %): 57/146 (39%) - 60/153 (39%)
• 100+ checkouts (per leg won): 7 (0.12) - 10 (0.17)

Despite all the bright young talents coming through the game and numerous underdog stories, we have a semi-final between two legends of the sport with a combined age of 102.

They are meeting for the 46th time and although Gary Anderson has dominated the rivalry with 29 victories, Peter Wright is a worthy favourite to book his place in a third World Championship final.

Snakebite's journey to this stage has been typically classy but also widely expected given his tremendous major-winning season whereas Anderson's route has been comparatively scrappy and rather surprising considering how he's evidently not the player who won two world titles and 13 other televised titles during his illustrious career.

However, the Flying Scotsman's record on the Ally Pally stage is incredible, never losing to a player seeded lower than 13th since his debut in 2010 and is now preparing for a seventh semi-final here and third in the last four editions.

Anderson battled past Adrian Lewis is a disappointing encounter before coming back from the brink of defeat to see off Ian White while he picked up his levels to something more recognisable to upset Rob Cross 4-3 with a 97 average.

Luke Humphries was his next victim in a 5-2 victory which could so easily have been closer had the two-time world champion not used his experience to pick off three deciding legs in a row but his average of 96 won't haven given Wright any nightmares.

The fellow 51-year-old, who has won the World Matchplay and Players Championship Finals this season, only needed a 92 average to see off a hapless Ryan Meikle before Christmas but since then he's averaged 102, 99 and 100 in brilliant victories over Damon Heta, Ryan Searle and a real star of the future in Callan Rydz.

The way he produced a D18-D20 finish when Rydz was on the brink of moving into a 4-2 set lead is exactly what champions are made of and there's no way he won't rise to tonight's occasion as well.

He picked up his 180 hitting to fire in 17 against Rydz and take his tournament tally to 31 (0.33 per leg) so I think a decent option here is to back him for victory with the most maximums at 11/10.

• CLICK HERE to back Wright to win and hit most 180s with Sky Bet

Scoreline prediction: 6-3

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