The PDC World Darts Championship continues inside the Alexandra Palace on Saturday evening when three more matches take place involving a number of players who will feel they are in with every chance of winning the title in six days from now.
The stars come out to play on Saturday evening with the former winner Michael van Gerwen and Luke Littler headlining the action but there are two very dangerous dark horses also on show on what looks to be a great night of darts.
Chris Dobey vs Josh Rock
Those two dark horses get the action underway on Saturday evening when the beaten quarter finalist of a year ago, Chris Dobey, takes on a Josh Rock who will be looking to reach the last 16 of this tournament for the second time.
Rock arrived at Alexandra Palace with his confidence high after a win on the European Tour earlier in the season but his TV record in 2024 has been bang average. With that in mind, he will have been delighted to have won the opening match but there was nothing in it which suggests he has sorted out his TV issues. He averaged 87.13 and was fortunate that Rhys Griffin wasn’t at his best. Dobey was one of the more impressive performers in the previous round, averaging 95.62 in a really good win over Alexander Merkx. He has some good form on this stage having reached the last 16 in five of the last six years and he is a favourite to get there again. I think Dobey wins this but I’m already on him to make the quarter final and should he come through this he’ll be a massive favourite against either Krzysztof Ratajski or Kevin Doets to get that far so I’m happy to let Dobey win without backing him but I can’t ignore over 15.5 180s in this match. You would imagine Rock will hang around to take this to a fifth or sixth set so we should be into the 20-25 leg range at a minimum. These two have met on a European Tour stage twice. Rock won 6-2 last year in a match where there was 11 180s in eight legs and then earlier this year Dobey extracted revenge in a match he won 6-5 which had 12 180s in it. Clearly these two enjoy the rhythm they throw with and 180s follow as a result. It would be a surprise if this one doesn’t go over 15.5 sets and I don’t think it will need a deciding set to do it.
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Michael van Gerwen vs Brendan Dolan
The middle match of the night sees the former champion Michael van Gerwen continuing his quest for a fourth world title. Standing in his way of a place in the last 16 is the Northern Irish player Brendan Dolan who reached the last eight here a year ago.
Dolan took care of Gerwyn Price and Gary Anderson en route to that clash with Luke Littler in the last eight so he is perfectly dangerous on this stage. Van Gerwen is well aware of how tricky Dolan can be on a big stage because the Northern Ireland star beat the Dutch ace in the opening round of the World Matchplay last year. Dolan had arrived at this tournament off the back of five straight defeats in all competitions but a 92.02 average in the previous round and five 180s suggests he has put a lot of work in and his pedestrian style could easily get MVG out of rhythm and make this a long night. There is no doubt that van Gerwen has lost the fear factor that surrounded him for so long and he is nothing like the player he was from a consistency point of view so I wouldn’t be surprised if this gets hairy for the former champion. MVG offered up a fairly convincing display in the previous round though so I’m happy to sit back and watch this one rather than get too involved but over 5.5 sets would be worth a look for those desperate to bet on the match.
Luke Littler vs Ian White
The final match of the night will see the attention turn to the extremely talented teenager that is Luke Littler as he looks to make it through to the last 16 for the second year in succession. He goes up against the veteran Ian White to round off the day.
White has the very definition of having nothing to lose here. He can just go and play and try and show everyone some of the darts which had him in the top 16 in the world at one stage and a huge factor on the European Tour. The pressure here is all on Littler and we got a reminder of that and that he is well aware of it when he broke down on stage after his win over Ryan Meikle in the previous round. It might be no bad thing that he is on a schedule which includes Michael van Gerwen as it might mean some of the attention is taken away from him. I don’t think it is a bad thing that we saw emotion from Littler in the previous round and having got it out of his system I would expect him to push on and show some of the form which has made him so popular. Even if he doesn’t do that, White is probably going to need his very best to cause an upset here and there have been little signs of him being anywhere near that level over the last couple of years. I expect Littler to win this and if he is on it he will win 4-0 like his rival Luke Humphries the night before but at 10/11 the better bet might be for Littler to hit a 180 in every set. He hit 10 in the three sets that he won against Meikle but none in the one that he lost but if we think he’ll win every set here then that set loss has no bearing on this. Littler is more than good enough to hit a 180 in a set he loses anyway as something bizarre would need to happen for him to lose one 3-0. I like that bet here.
Tips
Back C.Dobey vs J.Rock – Over 15.5 180s for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Spreadex
Back L.Littler to hit a 180 in every set for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Bet365
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