The second round of the PDC World Darts Championship enters its third day on Monday when six more matches are played across two sessions of action at Alexandra Palace in London.
Michael van Gerwen and Raymond Barneveld laid markers down for the rest of the field on Sunday and on Monday a stellar cast featuring no fewer than three world champions and three more world finalists look to book their spot in the last 16.
The afternoon session sees Alan Norris taking on Joe Murnan which is followed by an intriguing looking match between Terry Jenkins and Mark Webster before David Pallett faces Mensur Suljovic.
The evening session consists of Adrian Lewis taking on Andrew Gilding, Peter Wright up against Ronny Huybrechts and Phil Taylor against Kevin Painter in the match of the day.
Norris looked very good in the first round. He blew Robert Thornton away and he’s an emphatic favourite to see off Murnan. Murnan might still be wondering how he came through the first round but he did and he might take some comfort from that and play better here but he is going to need to.
Murnan hit five 180s against Hamilton in the opening round but he didn’t do much else apart from that and he looked like a man low in confidence so unless that win has restored some belief in himself he’s going to be overwhelmed by an aggressive, positive Norris.
Both men have won a pro tour event this year but Murnan’s was back at the start of the year and he has lived off it since in terms of qualifying for big events. Norris’ form is much more recent and therefore much more relevant and given his power scoring and solid finishing combination I expect him to be far too good here.
I’ve backed Mark Webster outright so in theory I’ve no need to go in on him again but I think he’s a good bet against Terry Jenkins so I’ll take him. Jenkins scored well in the first round against Darin Young but in between were some indifferent scores and plenty of misses in the finishing area.
Mark Webster isn’t going to blow anyone away but his consistent scoring and strong finishing can be a good battle for anyone. He has been showing signs of getting back to his best over the last couple of months or so and if this does come down to a finishing contest then Webster will win.
Dave Pallett wasn’t expected to beat Kim Huybrechts in the first round so he’ll be used to the position he is in going into his match against Mensur Suljovic.
Suljovic is a warm favourite for the match and there were signs early on in the first round against Jermaine Wattimena that he isn’t totally comfortable in that position. I still don’t think Suljovic will lose but I saw enough from both in that opening round to suggest this won’t be one way traffic.
Pallett will need to keep hitting his doubles well but his checkouts when the pressure was really on against Huybrechts was encouraging and with that I think we can see over 5.5 sets to round off the afternoon.
The evening is packed with quality. I’m on Lewis outright and I expect him to breeze through but all the lines in that match look about right so I’ll sit back and watch Lewis hopefully come through unscathed.
I will get involved in the second match though. Peter Wright and Ronny Huybrechts met at this stage two years ago and Wright won 4-1. Since then Wright has improved massively and Huybrechts has declined a bit so I don’t see this match being any closer than that one was.
If anything this one will be even more one sided than that one so with that in mind I’m keen on under 21.5 legs here. There has to be five sets for that to have any chance of being covered but a couple of one sided sets and it will need six sets to cover. It definitely isn’t seeing six sets but I’m not even convinced it has five so I’m happy to go under there.
Phil Taylor and Kevin Painter’s meeting will revoke memories of old and usually I’d look to back Taylor in it. He’s won their last 29 meetings and often saves his best for Painter but Taylor wasn’t great in the first round and Painter has nothing to lose so maybe he can keep this one closer than we expect. I’m not prepared to bet on it though.
Back A.Norris (-2.5 sets) to beat J.Murnan for a 4/10 stake at 2.63 with Coral
Back M.Webster to beat T.Jenkins for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Bet365
Back D.Pallett vs M.Suljovic – Over 5.5 sets for a 4/10 stake at 1.73 with Betway
Back P.Wright vs R.Huybrechts – Under 21.5 legs for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Betway
