The final session of darts before the Christmas break takes place on Thursday evening and it promises to be a cracking night of darts inside the Alexandra Palace in London with two former world champions headlining the action.
Aside from that we have three of the brighter young talents on the tour taking to the stage and a former world finalist as we head into Christmas in some style. This is the session which sees the second round of the tournament conclude.
Danny Noppert vs Jason Heaver
We open up the action with the former Lakeside finalist Danny Noppert taking to the Alexandra Palace stage. He takes on the man who made his debut in the first round in Jason Heaver in a match most judges expect the Dutchman to come out on top in.
Noppert has shown some of his best darts in the TV stages this season. He disposed of Michael van Gerwen on his way to the semi-final of the World Grand Prix and had a solid campaign in the European Championship as well and now looks to transfer that across to this stage. Heaver did well to come past Gordon Mathers in a very disappointing first round clash and now he has nothing to lose here. He’ll need to play a lot better and has some scoring power in him but I’m not sure I see a scenario where he can win this. For me, it is just a case of how far Noppert wins by but that is reflected in the odds.
Gabriel Clemens vs Lewy Williams
The second match of the evening looks like being an entertaining contest as Gabriel Clemens meets Lewy Williams for a shot at Jonny Clayton in the last 32 when the tournament returns after the Christmas break.
Clemens is forging a decent career for himself but he has never really gone deep on a major stage and that is the next step he has to take. At the minute he is probably seen as the man on the wrong end of that incredible 170 checkout from Fallon Sherrock at the Grand Slam and since then he played two matches at the Players Championship Finals and failed to average 90 in either of them. He could be ripe for an upset by Williams here. A lot of people who know a lot about this sport speak very highly of Williams and we got to see a taste of why in the first round when he averaged 93.05 and was very respectable on his doubles against an opponent averaging in the 70s and who didn’t really show up. Sometimes it is harder to play well in that scenario than when the opponent is coming at you so that was impressive. Clemens doesn’t convince me on the big stage at the minute. His doubling is very hit and miss so at the prices I think Williams is value to dump the German Giant out.
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Rob Cross vs Raymond van Barneveld
The tasty clash to take us into the Christmas break comes in the third match of the night when two former winners of this tournament meet as the European Championship winner Rob Cross takes on the darting legend of Raymond van Barneveld.
Barneveld will be warmed up for this clash after he overcame Lourence Ilagan in pretty impressive fashion in the first round but he might need to go up a gear to live with a Rob Cross who is back playing to something close to the level he was at when he won this title in 2019. We saw at the Grand Slam that Barney still has that level in him but we also saw there just how confident and composed Cross is with that big title behind him. You have to favour Cross here but Barneveld has always had a love affair with the World Championship and regularly pulled out incredible performances here and we shouldn’t ignore the potential for that to happen again. This is a match to very much savour and enjoy without a bet.
Chris Dobey vs Rusty-Jake Rodriguez
The final match of the second round sees two of the best young players on the circuit battling it out for the dubious task of facing Michael van Gerwen in the third round when Chris Dobey meets the Austrian ace Rusty-Jake Rodriguez.
I was impressed with Rodriguez in the first round. I’ve seen many young players completely lose their composure on this stage and deliver a terrible record on the doubles and basically shoot themselves in the foot. That wasn’t the case with RJR as he checked out at 44% in his 3-1 win over Ben Robb. That suggests he will lay down a challenge to Dobey, who he beat in a Players Championship Finals event earlier in the year. I’m not sure where Dobey is in his career these days. He won his first PDC event on the floor a few months ago but seems to have regressed on the big stages, although his Players Championship Finals loss to Willie O’Connor was a baffling one as he hit 10 180s in 11 legs and got beat. Nevertheless, there was still enough in that performance and his final one at the Grand Slam to suggest he’s bubbling and ready to cook but his consistency would concern me in terms of backing him. He is a relentless 180 hitter though and given that RJR hit six of them in his opening match and I don’t see this being won 3-0 regardless of who comes out on top, I think over 8.5 180s is a good thing here.
Tips
Back L.Williams to beat G.Clemens for a 3/10 stake at 2.63 with Boylesports
Back him here:
Back C.Dobey vs R-J. Rodriguez – Over 8.5 180s for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with BetVictor
Back it here:
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