The PDC World Darts Championship returns from the Christmas break on Tuesday as the second round of the tournament continues with two sessions of action inside the Alexandra Palace in London.
Usually the afternoon sessions can be a little low key and the hors d’oeuvre to the main course in the evening but with three top 10 players on show that isn’t the case here.
Mensur Suljovic vs Mark Webster
Mensur Suljovic: Round 1 beat Ron Meulenkamp 3-0 – Ave: 88.51 180s: 2
Mark Webster: Round 1 beat Joe Murnan 3-0 – Ave: 87.78 180s: 1
Head to Head: 2-6
The afternoon begins with a battle between Mensur Suljovic and Mark Webster and it could be a battle too. Suljovic is the man on the up but Webster tends to save his best darts for this tournament and the set play certainly seems to suit him.
I wondered how Suljovic would deal with the pressure of being an emphatic favourite in the first round and he wasn’t great but got let off the hook. Whether that was down to the situation we might only find out here but the fact Webster has won the last six meetings between these two, the last two of which were in 2016, is of interest.
Whether it is Webster raising his game against Suljovic or just taking the chances that come along I’m not sure but whatever it is given the Welshman’s record in this tournament and the Austrian’s uneasiness as a favourite I think Webster is the one to be on here.
Robert Thornton vs Daryl Gurney
Robert Thornton: Round 1 beat Zoran Lerchbacher 3-0 – Ave: 88.55 180s: 4
Daryl Gurney: Round 1 beat Jermaine Wattimena 3-1 – Ave: 96.85 180s: 5
Head to Head: 3-0
If this game was 12 months ago Robert Thornton would have been a pretty emphatic favourite so it is a sign of the times that it is Daryl Gurney who is the clear favourite to win the match and it is hard to argue with that.
Robert Thornton looks completely devoid of any confidence on the doubles and it doesn’t take long for him to be shaking his head if he starts missing. That in turn hampers his scoring and the Scot looks in a rut which is difficult to come out of.
Daryl Gurney is playing much the better darts of the two but he is plenty short enough having rarely been in this situation in the past so I am happy to just see how this one plays out without a bet on it.
Dave Chisnall vs Chris Dobey
Dave Chisnall: Round 1 beat Rowby-John Rodriguez 3-2 – Ave: 98.72 180s: 9
Chris Dobey: Round 1 beat Justin Pipe 3-1 – Ave: 90.70 180s: 2
Head to Head: 1-2
This is the most interesting match of the afternoon as the heavy scoring Dave Chisnall takes on the improving Chris Dobey who showed at the Grand Slam of Darts that he has the game to trouble the better players and with the freedom he can play with here I fancy he’ll be a real tough nut to crack.
Chisnall is rightly the favourite but unless Dobey gets stage fright he isn’t going to win this 4-0 or anything like that or if he does then he will have put in a performance that merits being talked about as a title contender.
The bet I like here comes in the form of the 180s particularly for Chisnall. He slammed in nine 180s in the first round and with the longer format and quite probably more sets than he played against Rodriguez I’m expecting the 180s to flow. We saw Michael Smith bang in 14 180s against Merv King in a cliff-hanger and in six or seven sets that’s how many I expect from Chisnall.
Tips
WON – Back M.Webster to beat M.Suljovic for a 3/10 stake at 2.75 with Unibet
Back him here:
Back D.Chisnall – Over 8.5 180s for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Paddy Power
Back it here:
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