The evening session at the PDC World Darts Championship sees the top two players in the world continuing their quest for another world title in a lit up night of darts inside the behind closed doors setup at Alexandra Palace.
Peter Wright will continue his title defence while Michael van Gerwen will be out to move a step closer to getting his crown back on a night which features four of the top 20 players in the world in action over the course of the evening.
Joe Cullen vs Jonny Clayton
The opening match of the night is the closest third round match of them all in terms of the world rankings as Joe Cullen meets his good friend Jonny Clayton in a clash in which one spot separates the two in the order of merit going into it.
That makes this an extremely big game for both men not just for their friendly bragging rights and a place in the last 16 of the tournament, but also with a place in the top 16 potentially at stage for whoever comes out in front. These two meet for the third time this year in a televised match. Clayton won comfortably at the UK Open while Cullen fell over the line in their meeting in the World Grand Prix recently. Clayton tempts me in this match particularly with the terrible record Cullen has here but the Welshman is a little too fragile for me to invest in after a poor afternoon.
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Peter Wright vs Gabriel Clemens
The second match of the night is the one in which the defending champion Peter Wright will grace the Alexandra Palace stage for the first time since the opening night of the tournament. He meets the classy German player Gabriel Clemens for the right to meet Krzysztof Ratajski in the last 16.
I always think this is the dangerous match for a defending champion in the early part of a tournament. It has been 12 days since Wright played his first game so it will be like a different tournament for him whereas Clemens was in action much more recently and should be into the event more as a result. That might give the German a bit of an edge but he has a fair gulf in quality to bridge if he is going to win this match. I’m hoping this will be a good game but the inactivity of Wright puts me off a bet.
Michael van Gerwen vs Ricky Evans
The final match of a busy day of darts sees the three time winner of this tournament in Michael van Gerwen looking to make it back to the last 16 and a meeting with the player who comes out on top in the opening game of the night. In order to get there he needs to overcome the challenge of Ricky Evans for the second year in succession.
These two met at this stage of the competition a year ago when van Gerwen won 4-0 and prior to that the Dutch star beat Evans 6-0 in a European Tour event so they are two meetings which highlight the size of the task for the rapid fire English thrower here. Evans did win seven legs in the four sets he lost last year which suggests that the pressure in three final legs got to him and that is a big concern he needs to overcome here if he is even to be competitive let alone push to win the match.
When these two met in that match last year there was 13 180s in the 17 legs and that makes me think that there is a good chance of the 8.5 180s being covered here. The pace of this match will suit both of them which might be why there was so many 180s last year. Evans hit six of them in his first round match so he is showing that when his first dart lands two bed fellows can be slotted in alongside it. I expect van Gerwen to want to lay another marker down so I can see him ploughing in some 180s here too. We know these two can cover this line in a four set whitewash but if Evans is more competitive there will be plenty of time to get it covered. I’ll play the over.
Tips
WON – Back M.van Gerwen vs R.Evans – Over 8.5 180s for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Betway
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