The third round of the PDC World Darts Championship concludes on Friday evening and the opening two matches of the last 16 take place on what is a sizzling schedule of darts action inside the Alexandra Palace in London.
We have four world champions on show over the course of the evening as well as another TV major winner and one of the more promising players from the continent on show too on a night which almost has to deliver brilliant darts.
Boris Krcmar vs Gary Anderson
We begin with the last of the first round matches as Gary Anderson looks to take advantage of the demise of Gerwyn Price to set up a last 16 clash with Brendan Dolan. The big Croatian player Boris Krcmar is the man standing in his way.
Krcmar has looked good in the competition to date but Keegan Brown didn’t really show up and we all know about the injury that Dirk van Duijvenbode was carrying. As good as the Croatian has played so far you get the feeling he is going to need to up his game if he is going to live with Anderson because the Scot has been in good form all year and looked decent enough against Simon Whitlock in his first match. That contest was almost a fortnight ago though so Anderson might need a set or two to find his way again which could give the Croatian something to work with but I don’t think he’s good enough to win four sets. How quickly Anderson hits his stride will determine how well he wins this but I’m happy to leave this one alone.
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Michael van Gerwen vs Stephen Bunting
The opening match in the last 16 of the tournament sees the former winner of this event in Michael van Gerwen going up against the previous champion of the BDO equivalent in Stephen Bunting in what looks like a tantalising match.
These two met last month at the Players Championship Finals when Bunting led 9-6 but couldn’t put his man away and lost 10-9 so the scouser will be looking for some revenge here. It might be that set play suits him better. Both players have shown brilliant form in this tournament so far. MVG has averaged 98.17 and 101.39 while Bunting has bettered that with 107.28 and 101.15 averages. Both men have come through without losing a set to date and this is nicely set up to be a belting contest. I’m already on Bunting outright and the path is clear to a pay out if he comes out on top here so I’ll leave the match betting alone but I don’t see how this isn’t high scoring and a 15.5 180 line is more than tempting. They hit 13 in 19 legs in that Minehead match and you would imagine we’re going to get somewhere near 25 legs and beyond in this one which should be more than enough time for two savage scorers to deliver the goods in a match where no quarter will get given. I like over 15.5 180s here.
Michael Smith vs Chris Dobey
The final match of what looks like being a cracking night of darts sees the defending champion Michael Smith looking to make it into the quarter finals when he goes up against a confident looking Chris Dobey, who was hitting 180s for fun in the last round.
I have been waiting to get after Smith in this tournament and I think the time has arrived. He has been nothing like the player who won this event last year in 2023 and I think he is vulnerable to someone who is playing as well as Dobey is. Dobey took care of Ross Smith on Thursday afternoon with 14 180s and a 102.36 average. Smith only averaged 93.73 in labouring past an ordinary Madars Razma earlier in the event and although he’ll get a better rhythm here he has lost four of his five meetings with Dobey in 2023, including at big events such as The Masters and the World Matchplay. Dobey knows he can beat Smith and I don’t think Smith quite knows if his best game will turn up. That makes me like the lower ranked man here.
Tips
Back M.van Gerwen vs S.Bunting – Over 15.5 180s for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with Sky Bet
Back C.Dobey to beat M.Smith for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Coral
