Michael Smith is in action on Sunday night
Michael Smith is in action on Sunday night

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


Our guide to Sunday's action at the World Darts Championship includes the order of play, match-by-match preview, predictions and a suggested acca.

Two more sessions take place on Sunday with the biggest names in action being Ian White and Michael Smith, while Mikuru Suzuki flies the flag for the female challenge.

Throughout the tournament I'll be writing daily previews for every match while I'll also be entering my scoreline predictions for each one in the free-to-play Fantasy Darts game, so get involved yourself and challenge me!

World Darts Championship: Sunday December 15

AFTERNOON SESSION

Kyle Anderson (1/8) v Xiaochen Zong (5/1)

Head-to-head: 0-0
2019 Meetings: 0-0
PDC Titles this season: 0-0
World Champ appearances: 6-1

Unless Kyle Anderson does something special over the next three weeks, this will go down as one of the more disappointing seasons in a career that has promised much more.

The Original's high point of 2019 was hitting one of the record-breaking 47 nine-dart finishes on the PDC circuit this season during a Players Championship clash against Steve Lennon.

But, when there's been 46 others, you could say such perfection isn't much to shout about anymore and like everyone else, he'll have to hit two during this tournament to win any prize money!

If the Original does achieve the feat then he'll be the most prolific nine-darter hitter in World Championship history having already managed one back in 2014.

Anyway, despite his problems on and off the oche, Anderson should be able to use his experience and general quality to get past the 21-year-old outsider.

Two years after making his debut as a teenager and averaging a Chinese record of 86 in a major, Zong is back after winning the PDC China Qualifier while he also became the first player from his country to reach an Asian Tour final, which he lost to Paul Lim.

Prediction: 3-0

Ross Smith (1/3) v Ciaran Teehan (23/10)

Head-to-head: 0-0
2019 Meetings: 0-0
PDC Titles this season: 0-0
World Champ appearances: 2-0

Ciaran Teehan is the latest big future hope on the Irish darting scene as he prepares for his World Championship debut- but he may have to wait at least another year before he claims his first win on this stage.

The 20-year-old just about earned his spot via the Development Tour, in which he's reached two finals, and while he's also won a Challenge tour event, he's never played on a major televised stage or even a Pro Tour event.

It would take a big leap of faith to expect him to handle such a grand stage to the best of his budding ability but without wanting to sound like a grandad, young sports stars these days have a certain amount of fearlessness about them. If he's the same then he could pinch a set or two.

Ross Smith is gearing up for his third World Championship and second in a row as he continues his steady rise up the rankings following a difficult few years in which he lost his Tour Card.

The Kent thrower reclaimed it at the start of 2018, did well enough to qualify for the Ally Pally, where he beat Paul Lim (boo hiss) before losing to Daryl Gurney, but 2019 has been even better.

A run to the UK Open quarter-finals, as well as solid performances on the Pro Tour, helped him qualify for the winter majors at the European Championship, Grand Slam of Darts and Players Championship Finals.

And at the first of those, he pulled off that huge shock against Michael van Gerwen.

I'm tempted to predict the whitewash in this one but I've heard plenty of positivity about Teehan to make me think he's good for a set.

Prediction: 3-1

Brendan Dolan (1/10) v Nitin Kumar (6/1)

Head-to-head: 0-0
2019 Meetings: 0-0
PDC Titles this season: 2-0
World Champ appearances: 11-1

Brendan Dolan was playing so well earlier this year that I took an ambitious punt on him winning the Grand Slam of Darts at a massive 200/1.

He defeated the likes of Jeffrey de Zwaan, Chris Dobey, Dave Chisnall, Glen Durrant and Jermaine Wartimena to end his five-year wait for a title in August before playing equally brilliant stuff to overcome Gerwyn Price, Peter Wright and Ian White to bag another in October.

The 2011 World Grand Prix finalist, who started his revival on this stage 12 months ago when reaching the quarter-finals, failed to deliver the goods in Wolverhampton and then averaged less than 80 in a second round defeat to Michael Smith at the Players Championship Finals.

However, Dolan arrives here with confidence about his 2019 as a whole - especially the second half of it - and he'll be too strong for India's Nitin Kumar, who is making his second appearance at the Ally Pally.

Last year he was beaten 3-0 by Jeffrey de Zwaan on opening night and averaged just 77.75 but maybe familiarity of the venue will help him improve on that statistic.

Prediction: 3-0

Ian White (1/4) v Darius Labanauskas (3/1) (Second Round)

Head-to-head: 0-0
2019 Meetings: 0-0
PDC Titles this season: 2-0
World Champ appearances: 8-1

Ian White is one of Michael van Gerwen's primary threats in this section of the draw and you'd have to fancy him to make a confident start.

That said, I thought the same last year when he faced Devon Petersen and watched in horror as he somehow collapsed to defeat after winning six of the opening seven legs - at which point he was averaging 107.

Backstage he revealed how he got really nervous when in that winning position but this year he really seems to have grown mentally stronger on the stage environment.

White has bagged two European Tour titles, including one against MVG in a deciding leg in Holland having previously lost three finals against him, but more importantly he finally won his first televised quarter-final at the 10th attempt when reaching the last four of the Players Championship Finals.

Van Gerwen v White - Final - 2019 Dutch Darts Masters

He lost that to eventual winner MVG but he'll be feeling ready to make a similarly long charge at the Ally Pally having suffered five early exits since he last reached the last eight here.

Darius Labanauskas looked pretty good against Matthew Edgar on Saturday with an average of almost 90 but his life was made easy by Prime Time, who recorded a part of around 85.

Prediction: 3-1

EVENING SESSION

Arron Monk (4/6) v Jose Justicia (6/5)

Head-to-head: 0-1
2019 Meetings: 0-1
PDC Titles this season: 0-0
World Champ appearances: 3-0

Not exactly a clash between two household names to get the pulses racing but for Arron Monk and Jose Antonio Justicia Perales it'll be high pressured as they battle to retain their tour cards.

Monk is ranked 75th on the Order of Merit and while he still managed to qualify for his fourth World Championship via the Pro Tour thanks to some decent runs on the floor, he's going to struggle to climb into the top 64 by the end of this season-ending tournament.

Justicia, who is still remembered for that infamous clash with Adrian Lewis in 2018, languishes down in 92nd spot and booked his debut spot here by defeating Toni Alcinas in the final of the South/West Europe qualifier.

Adrian Lewis vs. Jose Justicia PUSHING Incident

It really is a tough one to call, especially when you consider their only previous meeting ended when Monk withdrew after two legs, so I'll give the edge to Monk purely based on him having experience of this stage.

Prediction: 3-2

Andy Boulton (8/13) v Danny Baggish (5/4)

Head-to-head: 0-0
2019 Meetings: 0-0
PDC Titles this season: 0-0
World Champ appearances: 1-0

A good run for Andy Boulton at his second World Championship may not just change his darts career for the better, but potentially catch Simon Cowell's eye for next year's Celebrity X Factor.

The Stoke thrower, whose nickname is the same as the regular version of the failed ITV talent show, has waited four long years to get back on this Ally Pally stage and make amends for the 3-0 defeat he suffered at the hands of eventual champion Gary Anderson.

This will be Boulton's fifth career World Championship having appeared three times at the Lakeside during his BDO days, although he was unlucky with the draw on those occasions too, losing to Ted Hankey, Robbie Green and Scott Waites in the early rounds.

Boulton is languishing down in 80th on the Order of Merit but that's not too bad considering he only regained his tour card back in January and since then he's reached the quarter-finals of three Players Championship events, beating Gerwyn Price in one of them.

Meanwhile, Florida's Danny Baggish has earned his debut after claiming a shock victory over Jeff Smith in the North American Championship in Las Vegas back on July 4.

He'd made his TV debut earlier on Independence Day during a 6-1 defeat to Daryl Gurney at the US Darts Masters although he did average a respectable 92.59 so there's no doubt he can play.

Prediction: 3-1

James Richardson (1/6) v Mikuru Suzuki (4/1)

Head-to-head: 0-0
2019 Meetings: 0-0
PDC Titles this season: 0-0
World Champ appearances: 3-0

Could this be the night we see the first ever female winner of a PDC World Darts Championship match?

No disrespect to James Richardson, but I think even his own family will only wish him luck through gritted teeth ahead of his clash with Mikuru Suzuki.

OK, that's a slight exaggeration but he'll no doubt be feeling the pressure of the world of darts rooting for the Japanese star and the prospect of a landmark moment in the annals of darting time.

Richardson, ranked 61st in the world, will want to go down in the records for one of his own achievements - such as his famous 3-0 win over Raymond van Barneveld here in 2012 - rather than because of someone else's so his main difficulty will be keeping all these kind of thoughts out of his mind and try to focus soley on playing the board.

For his sake I hope he hasn't read any of the above.

While the 45-year-old's form on the floor has been nothing better than steady this season, he's not impressed on the stage environments of the European Tour, so I think Suzuki will not feel daunted by this challenge.

The Miracle, who is the reigning BDO women's world champion of course, delighted the crowds during the Grand Slam of Darts last month and managed to take three legs off both Gerwyn Price and Robert Thornton as well as a solitary one against Dimitri van den Bergh.

She averaged in the mid 80s on all three occasions and if she can just up her game slightly then she could well give the crowd something to shout about.

Prediction: 3-1

Michael Smith (1/6) v Luke Woodhouse (4/1) (Second Round)

Head-to-head: 0-0
2019 Meetings: 0-0
PDC Titles this season: 0-0
World Champ appearances: 8-0

Like many other darts enthusiasts, I fully expected Michael Smith to finally bag his first major trophy this season following a door knocking 2018 in which he finished runner-up in the Premier League and World Championship.

Somehow Bully Boy hasn't quite knocked that door off its hinges yet but he can't have come much closer having reached the World Matchplay final and three other televised semi-finals at the UK Open, Champions League of Darts and the European Championship.

He better hurry up because by the sounds of things his five-year-old son may soon beat him to it!

Smith is also without a title of any kind in 2019 having finished runner-up in three tournaments, including the televised US Darts Masters where he found Nathan Aspinall in even more inspired form than he was.

As well as Luke Woodhouse played at the recent Players Championship Finals, where he beat Daryl Gurney, and on Saturday against crowd favourite Paul Lim, I really can only see one winner and it should be comfortable.

Prediction: 3-0

SUGGESTED ACCAS

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