Luke Humphries (Picture: Kieran Cleeves/PDC)

PDC World Darts Championship 2024: Day 13 predictions, betting tips, acca, order of play and TV time

By Carl Fletcher

Darts

Sat December 30, 2023 · 11M ago

The Paddy Power World Darts Championship continues on Saturday with another double session so check out Carl Fletcher's match-by-match predictions, best bets and suggested acca.

Darts betting tips: World Championship day 13

2pts Both Scott Williams and Damon Heta to hit 6+ 180s at 4/5 (Sky Bet)

1pt Cross to win and hit the most 180s at 6/4 (Sky Bet)

1pt Humphries and Cullen to hit 8+ 180s each and 1+ 100+ checkout each at 5/2 (Sky Bet)

SL Acca: Cross (-1.5), Anderson (-1.5) and Littler (-1.5) all to win at 4/1 with Sky Bet

Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook

EVENING SESSION

TV Coverage: Sky Sports, 1930 GMT
Format: Fourth round, best of seven sets

Brendan Dolan (10/3) vs Gary Anderson (1/5)

Three Dart Average (2023): 92.60 – 98.85
180s per leg (2023): 0.15 – 0.33
Checkout % (PDC Stage Events 2023): 41.53% - 37.35%
100+ Checkout Per Leg Won (2023): 10.19% - 11.32%
Match Treble % (Win, Most 180’s & High Checkout): 13.33% - 32.03%

Brendan Dolan has completed an excellent double during 2023 defeating Michael Van Gerwen in the Matchplay and now Gerwyn Price in the World Championship to underline just how dangerous he’ll be against heavy favourite Gary Anderson. The ‘Flying Scotsman’ needs no warning as these two met in February this year and the ‘History Maker’ won 6-1.

Dolan has also been handed some heavy defeats. On the back of his victory over MVG he was then thumped 11-1 by Damon Heta, defeated 3-0 in sets by Michael Smith at the World Grand Prix winning just two legs and he lost 6-1 to Luke Humphries in the European Championships too. This has the potential to be a tight tussle or be a complete landslide.

Anderson will be hopeful that it’s the latter and his form this year certainly suggests it’s a possibility. He boasts the highest seasonal average of all players and has come through his opening two matches with relative comfort.

He walloped Simon Whitlock 3-0 and followed this up last night by defeating Boris Krcmar 4-1. He got off to a nervous start losing the first set but then found his groove to run out a comfortable winner and a similar occurrence beckons here.

Scoreline Prediction: 1-4

WATCH GARY ANDERSON'S RANT ON THE MEDIA!

GARY ANDERSON BLASTS MEDIA OVER LUKE LITTLER

Raymond Van Barneveld (13/8) vs Luke Littler (4/9)

Three Dart Average (2023): 93.50 - 97.44 (This tournament)
180s per leg (2023): 0.25 - 0.41 (This tournamenr)
Checkout % (PDC Stage Events 2023): 39.14% - 40.51% (This tournament)
100+ Checkout Per Leg Won (2023): 13.00% - 9.3% (This tournament)
Match Treble % (Win, Most 180’s & High Checkout): 19.05% - 66.66% (This tournament)

Two players at the different end of their careers and 16-year-old superstar Luke Littler faces one of his idols Raymond Van Barneveld.

Littler has looked super impressive in defeating Christian Kist 3-0, Andrew Gilding 3-1 and Matt Campbell 4-1 averaging 97.44 and hitting twenty 180’s. He blew away Kist, battled to beat Gilding and was always in control against Campbell who was lacklustre in the opening two sets and could never recover.

RVB was given a bit to think about by Radek Szaganski but was good enough to win 3-1 in his first match with a 99.81 average. Despite the 4-1 score line in his second game he was fortunate not find himself 2-0 down against Jim Williams. He managed to pinch the first set and that set him up for victory in that one. Williams missed a lot of doubles and you could see the confidence draining from him as he went on.

He probably won’t be as fortunate in this one as Littler has only failed to win three legs where he’s had more than one dart at the double. If the youngster can hold his nerve in this and get off to a flyer it could be a long night for the Dutch legend.

Scoreline Prediction: 2-4

Luke Humphries (1/3) vs Joe Cullen (9/4)

Three Dart Average (2023): 98.42 – 94.48
180s per leg (2023): 0.33 – 0.32
Checkout % (PDC Stage Events 2023): 41.36% - 38.11%
100+ Checkout Per Leg Won (2023): 10.37% - 12.67%
Match Treble % (Win, Most 180’s & High Checkout): 27.54% - 33.33%

Luke Humphries looked in all sorts of trouble against Ricardo Pietreczko in the last round. 3-1 behind and 2-2 in the fifth set he then won seven of the next eight legs as he showed his quality to prevail. He’s now won his last 15 matches and remains in the hunt for his fourth major in the last five big ones.

Just like when Michael Smith beat Martin Schindler in last year's event before going on to lift the title that could be a pivotal turning point for ‘Cool Hand’ in this years event. He’s not looked at his best however and the nerves are there. Averages of 93.58 and 91.38 suggest he might need to improve especially after the performances he’s shown coming into this with ten 100+ averages in his previous 13 matches.

Cullen has already come through a tough encounter against Ryan Searle 4-2, a match where he actually started underdog. He got off to a quick start in that one before being pegged back to 2-2 but he managed to re-assert his early dominance late on, keep his form and get the victory.

Both these are big 180 hitters and notch them at a similar rate. The pace of this game will suit and could serve us up a classic. That’s the angle to take in this, but there’s also the possibility of an upset here as the head-to-head is five wins apiece and Rockstar has looked comfortable on the Ally Pally stage.

Scoreline Prediction: 3-4

CLICK HERE to back both players to hit 8+ 180’s each and 1+ 100+ Checkout each with Sky Bet

AFTERNOON SESSION

TV Coverage: Sky Sports, 1230 GMT
Format: Fourth round, best of seven sets

Scott Williams (13/8) vs Damon Heta (4/9)

Three Dart Average (2023): 91.39 – 94.46
180s per leg (2023): 0.26 – 0.28
Checkout % (PDC Stage Events 2023): 42.35% - 38.30%
100+ Checkout Per Leg Won (2023): 13.82% - 13.69%
Match Treble % (Win, Most 180’s & High Checkout): 16.48% - 25.88%

To some Scott Williams is probably a surprise name in the Last 16 but he’s found his 2022 form over this past week or so and is improving game on game.

He opened up with an average performance against Haruki Muramatsu but then hammered Danny Noppert 3-0 before winning a thriller against Martin Schindler 4-3. In this latest game he really had dig deep and that’s probably the most pleasing aspect from that match.

He’s hit 19 maximums across his three games in the 58 legs he’s played which equates to 0.33 per leg, which is more like the ‘Shaggy’ we got used to last year. With 7 ton-plus checkouts too, his game is in a good place.

Heta also had to dig deep in the last round to win 4-3 after falling 2-0 behind against Berry Van Peer. The score line was close but Heta was the better player throughout and oozed confidence. He hit thirteen maximums in that to take his tally to 20 for the tournament and is looking to build upon his Matchplay and Grand Slam Quarter Final runs to reach the same stage in the biggest event of the lot.

Scoreline Prediction: 3-4

CLICK HERE to back both players to hit six or more 180s with Sky Bet

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Daryl Gurney (6/5) vs Dave Chisnall (8/13)

Three Dart Average (2023): 95.11 – 96.05
180s per leg (2023): 0.24 – 0.34
Checkout % (PDC Stage Events 2023): 38.67% - 37.36%
100+ Checkout Per Leg Won (2023): 11.34% - 9.90%
Match Treble % (Win, Most 180’s & High Checkout): 25.35% - 25.00%

Two players who’ve played well all year as their seasonal averages suggest. ‘Chizzy’ has been a prolific winner in 2023 and claimed five titles: three Euro Tour success and two Players Championship triumphs. In the big TV events though he hasn’t matched those standards and a Last 16 in the Masters and Players Championship Finals is as good as it gets.

He’s won both his games against Cameron Menzies and Gabriel Clemens with relative comfort, losing just one set in each match. He struggled to find his range on Treble 20 against the ‘German Giant’ and that would be a concern if that replicates itself here.

Gurney has looked very good in his first two matches beating two crowd favourites in Steve Beaton and Ricky Evans and he’s looked very professional, five big finishes, 15 maximums and a 96.14 tournament average. It’s no surprise his price to win this game has shortened over the past twenty four hours.

This could go either way but history suggests if Chisnall gets sent packing in this event it’ll be against a player performing to a high standard. Gurney has picked up some big wins throughout 2023 and he could notch another one here.

Scoreline Prediction: 4-3

Rob Cross (4/9) vs Jonny Clayton (13/8)

Three Dart Average (2023): 96.41 – 95.88
180s per leg (2023): 0.23 – 0.21
Checkout % (PDC Stage Events 2023): 41.94% - 41.27%
100+ Checkout Per Leg Won (2023): 13.55% - 15.38%
Match Treble % (Win, Most 180’s & High Checkout): 27.15% - 15.85%

Two players who’ve looked the polar opposite of each other in recent months and arguably in this tournament too.

‘Voltage’ has been talked about as a potential winner of this for months and will be looking to go one better than he did in the Grand Slam of Darts in November where he lost in the final to Luke Humphries.

He wasn’t great in his opener, averaging 89.32 but he didn’t need to be as he was a class above Thibault Tricole and ran out a 3-0 winner. He showed his class in the next game however defeating Jeffrey De Graaf 4-2 with a 101.32 average and ten maximums.

Clayton has laboured to this stage as a tournament average of 90.19 suggests but the main thing is he’s still in the event. He may not be for much longer though as he’s benefitted from his opponents missing the opportunities they’ve had. Steve Lennon had darts at the double to win seven of the eleven legs Clayton won, five of these legs were four darts or more. Similarly, Ratajaksi has also had chances to win seven of the thirteen legs he lost. If these had been taken at the right time then it could’ve been a very different story for the ‘Ferret’ already.

Cross has won seven of their last nine encounters and looks likely to improve on that record here to set up a Quarter Final match against Chris Dobey.

Scoreline Prediction: 4-2

CLICK HERE to back Cross to win and hit the most 180’s with Sky Bet

READ OUR WORLD DARTS CHAMPIONSHIP GUIDE

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