Sporting Life
Michael van Gerwen (Picture: Kelly Deckers/PDC)
Michael van Gerwen (Picture: Kelly Deckers/PDC)

Today's PDC World Darts Championship predictions: Betting tips, acca, order of play and TV time for Friday December 20

By Chris Hammer
Darts
Fri December 20, 2024 · 4h ago

The 2025 Paddy Power World Darts Championship continues on Friday so check out Chris Hammer's match-by-match predictions, best bets and an acca.

World Championship: Day six preview

SL Acca: 1pt Bunting (-1.5), Goto (+2.5), de Zwaan (+1.5) and MVG (-1.5) all to win at 4/1 with Paddy Power

Scroll down for match-by-match tips, stats and scoreline predictions

Evening Session (1900 GMT)

  • TV Coverage: Sky Sports
  • Format: best of five sets

Mickey Mansell (1/4) v Tomoya Goto (11/4) (R1)

  • Three-dart average (2024): 92.57 - 86.19
  • 180s per leg (2024): 0.19 - 0.23
  • Checkout % (2024): 39.41% - 36.31%

Mickey Mansell was having a pretty torrid season until a highly unexpected run to the semi-finals of the Grand Slam of Darts last month which would have done wonders for his confidence in the twilight of his career.

He headed to Wolverhampton as a rank outsider having suffered first-round exits in 16 of the 32 Players Championship events in 2024 and never went as far as the quarter-finals in the others.

However, out of nowhere he averaged well into the 90s throughout the tournament and also showed real character to see off Danny Noppert and Cameron Menzies in hard-fought knockout games.

However, it's been over a month of inactivity and if he's not at those recent levels then he could be in big trouble against one of last year's Asian stars Tomoya Goto.

The Japanese thrower averaged almost 91 and threw seven 180s in a 3-1 win over Ian White and then gave Ryan Searle a decent game before bowing out by the same scoreline, adding another four maximums to his tally.

Goto conceded just seven legs in five matches on his way to victory in the inaugural Japan Tour Finals and his averages this season due venture into the 90s pretty frequently. He also managed around 93 against Rob Cross at the Bahrain Darts Masters.

He has the energy for the occasion and I can certainly see him bossing the maximum count as well.

Scoreline Verdict: 2-3

SELECTION: 1pt Goto (+1.5) to win and hit most 180s at 3/1 (Sky Bet)

Florian Hempel (1/2) v Jeffrey de Zwaan (6/4) (R1)

  • Three-dart average (2024): 91.96 - 89.82
  • 180s per leg (2024): 0.23 - 0.23
  • Checkout % (2024): 38.22% - 34.69%

Jeffrey de Zwaan is fighting to keep his Tour Card once again and he'll need a few wins to even stand a chance after another disappointing season.

The Dutchman, who lost it at the end of 2022 before quickly regaining one at Q School in January 2023, has not managed to climb back into the top 64 in the past two seasons, which shows just how tough it is to work yourself back up the rankings.

De Zwaan hasn't played at the Ally Pally since the 2021 edition so he'll be itching to make the most of the opportunity he played so well to earn at the last-gasp qualifying event at the end of November.

He averaged just above 100 across his three matches and that could restore some belief that he can reach those levels more regularly again - possibly on the big stage again.

De Zwaan narrowly missed out on reaching the Grand Slam as well, losing to Martin Lukeman in the final qualifying match, so this late return to some kind of form definitely feels like leaving your homework until the last possible moment.

Florian Hempel hasn't done anything particularly groundbreaking this year but we can't ignore the fact he's never lost a first-round game in three previous visits to the Ally Pally and has reached the third-round twice.

However, I feel they are pretty evenly matched and maybe it's time for a building de Zwaan to give his career a shot in the arm.

Scoreline Verdict: 1-3

SELECTION: 1pt Jeffrey de Zwaan to win at 6/4 (General)

William O'Connor (4/9) v Dylan Slevin (13/8) (R1)

  • Three-dart average (2024): 93.73 - 89.10
  • 180s per leg (2024): 0.24 - 0.16
  • Checkout % (2024): 40.26% - 36.20%

Irish darts fans will be all over this derby clash as experienced campaigner William O'Connor takes on rising star Dylan Slevin.

O'Connor is favourite and obviously has a wealth of major experience compared to his 22-year-old opponent, who lost on debut here 12 months ago and has only featured in a couple of UK Opens and Players Championship Finals over the past two seasons.

This will obviously increase in years to come but in terms of the here and now, he boasts a pretty healthy seasonal average of almost 90 while he reached three figures twice during his three games at the last-gasp qualifying event.

O'Connor, who is very consistent in the mid-90s range, has won all six of his previous first-round matches on this stage and five of them have been 3-0 scorelines, while his best run is the third round back in 2022.

I am giving the edge to O'Connor, who'll be well up for this and experience will be key.

Scoreline Verdict: 3-2

Michael van Gerwen (1/6) v James Hurrell (7/2) (R2)

  • Three-dart average (2024): 97.19 - 91.17
  • 180s per leg (2024): 0.28 - 0.22
  • Checkout % (2024): 41.01% - 38.31%

Michael van Gerwen recently admitted to Sporting Life that his tally of four titles this season was 'bad', especially because his meagre haul didn't include any of the ranked majors for the second successive year.

It's no wonder why so few people are backing him to suddenly end that run on the biggest stage of all.

Although his average of 97 for the season is a lot higher than most players, who would also give their non throwing arms for four titles in a year, it feels as if MVG has lost that fear factor of old - even against much lower ranked opponents.

Van Gerwen's 'B' game used to be plenty good enough but these days it could get him into trouble, so he can't take James Hurrell lightly.

The English debutant had an easy opener against Jim Long, averaging 88.75 in a 3-0 victory during an afternoon session and it'll be interesting to see how he can handle the night atmosphere against one of the biggest stars in the sport.

I'll go for MVG here but wouldn't be surprised to see Hurrell pinch a set.

Scoreline Verdict: 3-1

Afternoon Session (1200 GMT)

  • TV Coverage: Sky Sports
  • Format: best of five sets (R1/R2)

Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook

Stephen Burton (8/15) v Alexander Merkx (11/8) (R1)

  • Three-dart average (2024): 90.26 - 85.77
  • 180s per leg (2024): 0.16 - 0.14
  • Checkout % (2024): 37.84% - 38.92%

Alexander Merkx is one of the lesser known Dutch players in the tournament having earned his Ally Pally debut through his efforts on the Challenge Tour but he shouldn't be underestimated against Stephen Burton.

The 30-year-old, who has also won a title in the WDF this season, won't have experienced anything like this atmosphere so it's very tough to guess how he'll fare.

Fortunately for Merkx, it's not as if Stephen Burton has a wealth of Ally Pally experience having only played on this stage once before way back in 2019 while his seasonal stats on the Pro Tour aren't scarily higher - he's just more consistent.

Burton gained some confidence from beating James Wade at the recent Players Championship Finals but then lost to Danny Noppert with an 80 average.

I'm gonna sit on the fence with this one but I feel there is minor upset potential.

Scoreline Verdict: 2-3

Wessel Nijman (1/33) v Cameron Carolissen (14/1) (R1)

  • Three-dart average (2024): 95.44 - 80.10
  • 180s per leg (2024): 0.33 - 0.21
  • Checkout % (2024): 43.24% - 35.57%

Wessel Nijman is incredibly 1/200 with some bookies to win this match and that seems highly disrespectful when you think that even Rashad Sweeting managed to win a set and six legs in total the other despite being given no chance.

Cameron Carolissen even won a set against Danny Noppert on his last appearance here back in 2021 and managed a respectable 82, while he earned himself a second crack at the Ally Pally thanks to an 8-7 victory over viral sensation Peter Wachiuri at the African qualifying event.

Nevertheless, I still think Wessel Nijman will cruise through given what a star performer he's been this season - plus the fact I have backed him to reach the quarter-finals.

If it is a one-sided Nijman victory that many will expect, then going low on the 180s is a viable option despite the fact the rising star hits plenty of them at 0.31 per leg throughout the season. If it's 9-2 in legs or even more resounding, that won't give the pair much chance to chalk up a big tally.

Scoreline Verdict: 3-0

SELECTION: 1pt under 5.5 180s in Nijman v Carolissen at 11/10 (General)

Ian White (1/7) v Sandro Eric Sosing (4/1) (R1)

  • Three-dart average (2024): 91.20 - 82.83
  • 180s per leg (2024): 0.21 - 0.17
  • Checkout % (2024): 38.23% - 34.18%

I remember a time when Phil Taylor once told Sporting Life that Ian White would win the World Championship.

That's how highly everyone always thought of Diamond throughout the 2010s but major televised success never happened for him and hasn't reached the quarter-finals on the biggest stage of all since 2014.

The last few years in particular have been a real struggle for him and has come perilously close to falling out of the world's top 64 for the first time in his PDC career.

There's just no real consistency anymore; he can still throw in a 100+ average fairly regularly but then drops into the 80s more than he used to. In the Players Championship Finals last month, he thrashed MVG 6-1 with an average of 102.69 then lost 6-0 to Mike de Decker with an average of 76.13.

It's rare that Sandro Eric Sosing averages above 90 on the PDC Asian Tour but he did actually beat Lok Yin Lee in the Asian Championship to book his Ally Pally spot and we saw what the latter did to 1/8 favourite Chris Landman on Wednesday afternoon.

White crashed out in the first round last year to Japan's Tomoya Goto so I wouldn't be too confident chucking this one into your 'dead cert' accas.

Scoreline verdict: 3-1

Stephen Bunting (1/7) v Kai Gotthardt (4/1) (R2)

  • Three-dart average (2024): 96.93 - 86.85
  • 180s per leg (2024): 0.33 - 0.18
  • Checkout % (2024): 41.22% - 33.65%

Stephen Bunting is one of my pre-tournament fancies to reach the quarter-finals and he'll certainly be more confident of that possibility now that Mike de Decker has been knocked out.

The Bullet loves entertaining the Ally Pally crowd with his iconic walk-on and last year he got his army of fans dreaming of a world title when thrashing Ryan Joyce and Florian Hempel with whitewash wins and averages of well over 100.

Those hopes ended at the hands of Michael van Gerwen but he got his revenge over the Dutchman in the Masters earlier this year as he won his first PDC major and since then he's been runner-up in six other events and boasts one of the highest seasonal averages.

His major form in 2024 isn't great but that's mainly down to running into the likes of Luke Humphries and Gary Anderson in the early rounds so I'd expect him to show Kai Gotthardt no mercy and get the crowd going Bunting mental again.

Gotthardt has done well to get to this stage but he was gifted many legs by a wasteful Alan Soutar and I can't see that happening again.

Bunting has a far higher 180 per leg ratio than the German and if he wins the vast majority of legs as I anticipate then the high checkout is also very probabe.

Scoreline verdict: 3-0

SELECTION: 1pt Bunting to win, hit most 180s and highest checkout at 5/4 (BetVictor)

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