The seeds have been getting skittled in the PDC World Darts Championship so far so there will be three nervous favourites taking to the oche on Monday night as the first round of the tournament continues at Alexandra Palace.
The three seeds in action on Monday are all in the top 10 in the world so we should be in for a good night of arrers, especially as two of the seeds have potentially dangerous opponents.
The night begins with the preliminary round as has been the case all week so far. This time it is the turn of the South African and Greek qualifiers as Warwick Scheffer takes on John Michael for the right to face James Wade later in the evening.
We know little about Scheffer except that South African qualifiers do well here so should be respected but Michael has a bit of experience on the big stage and looks a worthy favourite to begin with.
The first of the main draw matches could just be the match of the round as the World Grand Prix champion Robert Thornton takes on former Lakeside finalist Alan Norris.
Both men know their way around the big stage and the dart board and both have looked in good touch in recent weeks so this is all set up for a cracking match. Norris has a lot of bottle about him and while he can miss a few doubles he has the scoring power to compete in any leg.
It has to be said Thornton’s record in this tournament isn’t what it could be so he could be a little vulnerable here. Away from the World Grand Prix, Thornton hasn’t been brilliant in the big events this year and if he is slightly off, particularly on the doubles he could pay the price here.
While I’m going to have a little bet on Norris to come through this one I’m going to have a bigger match on over 9.5 180s. Thornton has hit four or more 180s in his last four first round matches even though none of them has been as close as this one should be.
Norris is a serial 180 hitter. He hit six or more 180s in three of his last four first round matches at the Lakeside so the evidence is there for us to see double figures in 180s here.
I’m also expecting to see some 180s hit in the next match too as the heavy scoring Michael Smith takes on the rising Dutch star Jeffrey de Zwaan, the man mentored by the great Raymond van Barneveld.
We saw de Zwaan take three legs off Michael van Gerwen in the European Championship earlier in the year so we know playing a big name on the big stage doesn’t faze him and if Smith has his missed doubles head on this could become trickier than he would like.
Luckily for the St Helens star he is one of the heaviest scorers in the game and I’m expecting him to fill the bed regularly in this prime time slot for a darts player. Once again I’d be surprised if we don’t get double figures in this match.
You would expect James Wade to beat whoever comes through but I’m always conscious that the preliminary winners have had stage time which they can put to good use and we’ve certainly seen that with Rene Eidams and Alexander Oreshkin this week already so I’m not going to sweat on any short prices coming in there.
Back A.Norris to beat R.Thornton for a 3/10 stake at 3.00 with William Hill
Back R.Thornton vs A.Norris – Over 9.5 180s for a 5/10 stake at 2.10 with Bet365
Back M.Smith vs J.de Zwaan – Over 9.5 180s for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with Coral
