Paul Lim is in action on day four of the World Darts Championship

PDC World Championship darts: Day four predictions, odds, betting tips, accas, order of play & TV times

By Chris Hammer

Darts

Mon December 21, 2020 · 5y ago

Our guide for Friday's action at the PDC's William Hill World Darts Championship includes the order of play, match-by-match previews, predictions, seasonal statistics, head-to-head records, odds and a suggested acca.

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Click here for pre-tournament betting tips

James Wade is the biggest name in action today but the man most (all) fans will be looking forward to seeing most is the legendary Paul Lim as he prepares to face Luke Humphries.

As always, we preview all eight matches but at the very bottom there are also graphics of every player's season stats as well as an additional one to chart how successful they've all been in achieving the 'Match Treble' in all their PDC matches this year (winning with the most 180s and highest checkouts).

World Championship: Friday December 18

TV Coverage: Sky Sports Darts (1200 & 1800 GMT)
First/Second Round: Best of 5 sets, no tie-breakers in any set

Friday's darts accas

Puha (+1.5), Teehan (+1.5) & Hughes (-1.5) all to win at 5/1
van Duijvenbode (-1.5), Wade (-1.5) & Humphries to win with most 180s at 3/1
Click here to build your acca

AFTERNOON SESSION (1200 GMT)

Mickey Mansell (1/2) v Haupai Puha (13/8) (R1)

Head to Head: 0-0
2020 Meetings: 0-0
PDC Titles this Season: 0-0 (TV: 0-0)
Career PDC Titles: 0-0 (TV: 0-0)
PDC World Championship Appearances: 5-0
PDC World Championship Best: First Round - Debut

New Zealand's Haupai Puha has been 'acclimatising' in London preparing for his World Championship debut since early November following the end of the World Cup - so at least he'll have got some value for money for all those air miles regardless of the result.

Not that he'd have been able to do much sightseeing, mind, but those extra hours on the practice board will make him quite a threat to Mickey Mansell, who has never won a match on the Ally Pally stage in his five previous attempts since 2011.

In 2019 Mansell lost 3-1 to Jim Long with a performance that was so bad - averaging 75 - he got fined £500 by the DRA while 12 months ago he was whitewashed by Seigo Asada with an average of 80.

He's obviously better than that. Before before lockdown he reached a Players Championship quarter-final and then had a few decent runs during the Summer Series, although his form at the Autumn and Winter Series wasn't as good.

A seasonal average of 90 suggests he's vulnerable and Haupai Puha can reach those mid 80 to early 90 levels, as we saw during three World Series events in 2019 and the recent World Cup, where New Zealand reached the second round.

I'm not convinced there'll be an abundance of high scoring and checkouts but it could be a tight one.

Score Prediction: 2-3
Suggested Bet: Over 4.5 sets at 7/4

Darius Labanauskas (1/14) v Chengan Liu (7/1) (R1)

Head to Head: 0-0
2020 Meetings: 0-0
PDC Titles this Season: 0-0 (TV: 0-0)
Career PDC Titles: 0-0 (TV: 0-0)
PDC World Championship Appearances: 2-0
PDC World Championship Best: QF (2020) - Debut

Darius Labanauskas will find out what it sometimes feels like to be Michael van Gerwen when he steps up to the oche as a 1/14 favourite to win a match of darts!

The Lithuanian's surprise run to last year's quarter-finals, which was ended by MVG helped give him the springboard to climb into the top 50 on the PDC Order of Merit during his second year as a Tour Card holder despite suffering subsequent first-hurdle exits at all three of his major TV appearances this year - the UK Open, European Championship and Players Championship Finals.

That said, he was beaten by van Gerwen in the latter two of those this winter so it would obviously be unfair to dismiss those as failures while his floor form has improved since enduring a dreadful Summer Series campaign that yielded £1000 of prize money over five days.

He's averaged a respectable 92 for the season but his most impressive stat is winning 14% of his legs with 100+ checkouts. Such a percentage puts him among the likes of James Wade and Jose De Sousa in that area of the game but obviously we've got to bare in mind he hasn't played as many legs as that calibre of player.

Not much is expected of his opponent Chengan Liu, who is making his first World Championship appearance since losing 3-0 to John Part at the Circus Tavern way back in 2006.

The 47-year-old, who is nicknamed Stone Buddha and walks out to The Pretender by Foo Fighters, has also appeared on our screens during the Shanghai Masters of 2017 and 2018, averaging a best 82.90 and not winning a leg in either event.

Nevertheless, he did win the Chinese qualifier with an 87.82 average that included three ton+ checkout so it looks like he's made big improvements.

Score Prediction: 3-0
Suggested Bet: Two or more 100+ checkouts in the match at 11/10

Wayne Jones (8/11) v Ciaran Teehan (11/10) (R1)

Head to Head: 0-0
2020 Meetings: 0-0
PDC Titles this Season: 0-0 (TV: 0-0)
Career PDC Titles: 0-0 (TV: 0-0)
PDC World Championship Appearances: 12-1
PDC World Championship Best: Semi-finals (2006) – First Round (2020)

Wayne Jones is back on the World Championship stage for the 13th time having rolled back the years somewhat since regaining his Tour Card back in January.

The 55-year-old from Wolverhampton, who reached the semi-finals way back in 2006, fell at the first hurdle in each of his last four visits to the Ally Pally - most recently to Devon Petersen in 2019 - but will be confident of putting the record straight this afternoon.

Jones beat Glen Durrant en route to a Summer Series semi-final back in July only for eventual winner Peter Wright to end his hopes while he again stunned the Premier League king in the opening round of the recent Players Championship Finals with an average of 100 before being edged out by Jeffrey de Zwaan.

However, I think a minor upset is on the cards as Irish youngster Ciaran Teehan prepares for his second Ally Pally experience.

The 21-year-old was nerveless on his debut 12 months ago when thrashing Ross Smith 3-0 with an average of 90, and was only narrowly beaten by Mervyn King 3-2 in the second round.

Since earning his maiden PDC Tour Card by virtue of finishing second on the Development Tour last year, Teehan struggled to pick up many wins but his seasonal average of 89 isn't much worse than Jones' 91 while he upped his game during the last-ditch qualifying event for the World Championship as he averaged 98 three times in a row to see off Michael Barnard, Mark McGeeney and Joe Murnan.

Score Prediction: 2-3
Suggested Bet: Ciaran Teehan to win at 11/10

Jamie Hughes (4/6) v Adam Hunt (6/5) (R2)

Head to Head: 2-0
2020 Meetings: 0-0
PDC Titles this Season: 0-0 (TV: 0-0)
Career PDC Titles: 1-0 (TV: 0-0)
PDC World Championship Appearances: 1-1
PDC World Championship Best: First round (2019) – First round (2019)

Adam Hunt will be feeling rather fortunate he's still here after coming through the match of the tournament so far - in terms of tension and excitement - against Lisa Ashton but he can now relax a little having claimed his first Ally Pally win.

The 27-year-old, who punished Ashton's missed match darts in the deciding set with a brilliant 120 checkout, will probably need to average somewhere around 94 once again if he's to give Jamie Hughes a stern examination.

Not that the Tipton ace isn't prone to the odd sloppy performance, but on his day he can be a really dangerous player, as proved once again when he reached the UK Open quarter-finals before imploding in a deciding leg against Jonny Clayton.

He's also reached a couple of Pro Tour quarter-finals this year, including one at the Summer Series, while he also looked pretty sharp in his two matches at the televised Players Championship Finals, where he averaged 98 in victory over Ricky Evans and defeat to Gerwyn Price.

Score Prediction: 3-1
Suggested Bet: Jamie Hughes (-1.5) to win at 6/4

EVENING SESSION (1800 GMT)

Dirk van Duijvenbode (1/4) v Bradley Brooks (3/1) (R1)

Head to Head: 0-0
2020 Meetings: 0-0
PDC Titles this Season: 0-0 (TV: 0-0)
Career PDC Titles: 0-0 (TV: 0-0)
PDC World Championship Appearances: 1-0
PDC World Championship Best: First round (2016) – Debut

Dirk van Duijvenbode is returning to the World Championship stage for the first time in five years thanks to producing a second wind in a career that is now known for a lot more than his crazy hardcore walk-ons.

After losing his Tour Card at the end of last season, the aubergine farmer regained it at Qualifying School back in January and immediately made an impact by reaching semi-finals of both a Players Championship and European Tour events before lockdown.

You'd have thought he'd be one of the players to suffer most from not having a crowd to feed off but after showing solid form at the Summer and Autumn Series, he beat Dimitri Van den Bergh, Mensur Suljovic, Gary Anderson and Simon Whitlock to reach the World Grand Prix final on debut as a 200/1 outsider, before losing to Gerwyn Price.

He proved that was no fluke by reaching the last eight of the European Championship and Players Championship Finals either side of another encouraging Winter Series and he should be too strong for debutant Bradley Brooks.

The 20-year-old, who is already something of Q School specialist having already come through it twice to win Tour Cards in January 2018 and 2020, is here by virtue of a dramatic deciding leg victory over Joe Davis in the World Youth Championship - albeit averaging just 81 compared to his opponent's 78.

He's struggled to win many games on the Pro Tour this year and with a seasonal average of 89 compared to his opponent's 94, this could be quite a quick match.

Score Prediction: 3-0
Suggested Bet: Dirk van Duijvenbode to win the match, score over 2.5 180s and checkout over 91.5 at 10/11

John Henderson (4/7) v Marko Kantele (11/8) (R1)

Head to Head: 1-1
2020 Meetings: 0-0
PDC Titles this Season: 0-0 (TV: 0-0)
Career PDC Titles: 0-0 (TV: 0-0)
PDC World Championship Appearances: 8-3
PDC World Championship Best: Third Round (2018, 2019, 2020) – First round (2009, 2018, 2020)

John Henderson has a strong record of getting through the early rounds but the popular Scotsman will miss not having the support of the fans in what could be a scrappy clash between two players who have struggled on the circuit this season.

Henderson has reached the third round in each of the last three stagings but he arrives here off the back of a miserable run of results since reaching a Summer Series quarter-final and in terms of majors, he only managed to qualify for the UK Open and Players Championship in 2020, falling at the first hurdle in both.

Not that Kantele, who lost to Henderson 3-0 at the Ally Pally in 2017, has fared much better and comes towards the end of his second season as a Tour Card holder needing a big run to retain it.

The world number 87 from Finland picked up just one win across his 10 matches at the Autumn and Winter Series first-round exits in all five Winter Series events although his seasonal average of 89 is just one less than Henderson's. compared to

All I can really predict here is that it'll probably be low in quality with Hendo being able to hold his nerve better at the key moments.

Score Prediction: 3-1
Best Bet: Under 5.5 180s at 13/8

Luke Humphries (1/5) v Paul Lim (7/2) (R1)

Head to Head: 0-0
2020 Meetings: 0-0
PDC Titles this Season: 0-0 (TV: 0-0)
Career PDC Titles: 0-0 (TV: 0-0)
PDC World Championship Appearances: 3-12
PDC World Championship Best: Quarter-Finals (2019, 2020) - Second round (2001)

The last thing I want to do is predict Paul Lim to lose a match of darts, so let's first enjoy these three amazing moments from his iconic career on the biggest stage.

🙌🎯 Paul Lim has qualified for his 25th World Darts Championship - 38 years after his first - at the age of 66!

😍 Any excuse...pic.twitter.com/bmG57ZpO79
— Sporting Life (@SportingLife) November 29, 2020

🎯1990 - Paul Lim hits historic 9-darter

😲2017 - Paul Lim misses double 12 for another perfect leg!#LoveTheDarts

pic.twitter.com/V2lFHLyNBd
— Sporting Life (@SportingLife) December 23, 2017

Paul Lim is back on a World Championship stage for the 25th time tonight, 39 legendary years after his first. Here's when he rolled back the years aged 63 with a famous Ally Pally win and @Webby180 sportingly raised his arm to a hero's reception. 👏pic.twitter.com/fnAex95C1A
— Chris Hammer (@ChrisHammer180) December 18, 2020

It's remarkable to think that almost 31 years on from hitting 'that' historic nine darter, the Singapore legend is all set for a 25th World Championship appearance - a whopping 39 years after his first of 12 outings in the BDO version which preceded his first attempt on the PDC stage in 1997.

While he's only managed five match in this tournament since then, two of those came during an age defying run at the 2018 World Championship when he beat Kai Fan Leung with an 86 average before going almost 10 points higher with a famous triumph over Mark Webster.

If that wasn't enough he almost made history with a nine-darter against Gary Anderson during a 4-1 defeat, in which he averaged a shade over 90!

He managed two more 90+ averages against Ross Smith and Luke Woodhouse in the past two stagings - albeit in defeat - and the fact he's still qualifying to be here at the age of 66 shows how much hunger and enjoyment he still has for this great sport.

It's a shame there's no crowd here to see him and he'll have his work cut out to get much further due an unfortunate first-round draw against two-time quarter-finalist Luke Humphries.

The Newbury ace wasn't exactly ripping up trees on tour before lockdown but there's been some encouraging performances since and most notably at the recent Players Championship Finals, where he beat Devon Petersen with a 99 averaged before managing one of 107 in an absolute thriller against Jermaine Wattimena. He couldn't keep it up against Gerwyn Price but overall he has an impressive seasonal average of 95 and boasts a 180 per leg ratio of 0.31 which is even higher than MVG, Gerwyn Price and Nathan Aspinall to name but three. Sure he's played fewer legs but pound for pound it's a very high standard.

While I'm going for Humphries in the match treble market, I can't help but feel tempted by the 66/1 available on there being a nine-darter from either player. Come on, it is Paul Lim and it is 2020!

Score Prediction: 3-1
Best Bet: Humprhies to win, hit most 180s and have highest checkout at 11/10. Also a small punt on either player to hit a nine-darter at 66/1 (888sport)!

James Wade (1/3) v Callan Rydz (23/10) (R2)

Head to Head: 0-0
2020 Meetings: 0-0
PDC Titles this Season: 1-0 (TV: 0-0)
Career PDC Titles: 37-0 (TV: 10-0)
PDC World Championship Appearances: 16-1
PDC World Championship Best: Semi-finals (2009, 2012, 2013) – Second Round (2020)

James Wade has enjoyed another resurgence in recent months by reaching two televised finals at the European Championship and Grand Slam of Darts and also the last four of the World Series, so it's no wonder there are some pundits tipping him to claim the biggest prize in the sport at long last.

The Machine may not have won either major due to inspired performances from Peter Wright and Jose De Sousa but he has at least bagged a Players Championship since lockdown to keep his career tally of titles ticking over.

Statistically he's not only been as clinical as ever but the scoring side of his game has cranked up a notch and his seasonal average of 95.51 puts him on the coat tails of renowned heavy scorers.

He won't take Callan Rydz lightly, especially after the 22-year-old averaged a highly creditable 93 in his first-round win over James Bailey on Wednesday night.

Rydz, who has really started to come of age in the second half of the season, including a victory over Michael van Gerwen at the Winter Series and giving Peter Wright a scare at the televised Players Championship Finals, did struggle a little on his finishing and he can't afford those slip ups tonight.

I'm going to make use of the 'Match Treble' stats below and back James Wade to win with the most 180s and highest checkout. Although he's not known as much of a maximum man and has only managed to hit most 180s in 38.1% of his matches this season, he's still pulled off the treble in 23.9% of his games - which is pretty handy in comparison to other players who have won at least half their matches in 2020. You can read more about these stats here.

Score Prediction: 3-1
Suggested Bet: Wade to win with most 180s and the highest checkout at 5/1

Season Statistics

To help you with your bets throughout the tournament, here are some excellent statistical graphs for every player in the field from Darts Tracker creator and Sporting Life contributor Carl Fletcher (@CarlyFletch & @Darts_Tracker on Twitter), while there is an additional graphic at the bottom charting each player’s frequency of bringing up the ‘Match Treble’ in PDC events this season. That is when they win, throw most 180s and hit the highest checkout. You can read more about Carl’s research on that by clicking here.

NB: Averages & 180 per leg data covers events except World Grand Prix (which is double-start and distorts figures), 100+ checkout % is all events, and doubles percentage is stage events only (majors and European Tour) because definitive double stats for Players Championship events aren't available.