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Nathan Aspinall
Nathan Aspinall

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

By Carl Fletcher
Darts
Sat December 23, 2023 · 11M ago

The 2024 Paddy Power World Darts Championship continues at the Alexandra Palace with two sessions on Saturday so check out Carl Fletcher's match-by-match predictions, best bets and a suggested acca.

Darts betting tips: World Championship day nine

1pt Kim Huybrechts to win at evens (Unibet)

1pt Gurney to win, hit over 3.5 180s and checkout over 97.5 at 6/4 (Sky Bet)

1pt Searle to win, hit over 3.5 180s and checkout over 100.5 at 6/4 (Sky Bet)

2pts Aspinall to win but both players to win a set at evens (Paddy Power)

SL Acca: Pietreczko, Clayton (-1.5), Rock (-1.5) all to win & Bunting most 180s with Sky Bet

Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook

Evening Session (1900 GMT)

  • TV Coverage: Sky Sports
  • Format: First round/second round, best of five sets

Ryan Searle (1/8) v Tomoya Goto (9/2)

  • Three-Dart Average (2023): 95.35 - 85.92
  • 180s per leg (2023): 0.26 - 0.21
  • Checkout % (PDC Stage Events 2023): 36.80% - 47.6% (R1 worlds only)
  • 100+ checkout per leg won (2023): 12.48% - 10.04%
  • Match Treble % (Win, most 180s & high checkout): 23.48 % - Unavailble

Tomoya Goto played very well to beat Ian White in his first-round game. It was a high-class game which featured 13 maximums, seven of which were by Tomoya. ‘Diamond White’ averaged 93.39 against him so he’s demonstrated he’s capable of holding his own.

He’ll probably need to raise his level a little more against Ryan Searle who at times looks capable of taking his game to the next level and become a major winner.

He’s been somewhat unlucky in that fact that five of his seven losses on TV outside the Grand Prix have been against players averaging 100+ and the other two defeats were against Dave Chisnall (95.62) and Jonny Clayton (97.55).

One feature of his game in recent months has been his 100+ checkouts. He’s managed to notch one in eleven of his last twelve matches and the match he failed to do so he lost 5-0 to Gerwyn Price.

Goto has the maximum prowess to provide some trouble for but I ultimately expect ‘Heavy Metal’ to grind the win out.

Scoreline Prediction: 3-0

CLICK HERE to back Searle to win, hit over 3.5 180s and a checkout over 100.5 with Sky Bet

Josh Rock (1/4) v Berry Van Peer (11/4)

  • Three-Dart Average (2023): 96.33 - 89.55
  • 180s per leg (2023): 0.27 - 0.18
  • Checkout % (PDC Stage Events 2023): 37.87% - 48.1% (R1 worlds only)
  • 100+ checkout per leg won (2023): 12.65% - 11.90%
  • Match Treble % (Win, most 180s & high checkout): 25.35 % - Unavailble

Berry Van Peer took his chance superbly against Luke Woodhouse to win 3-2 in what always promised to be a close encounter. The difference between the two was the finishing and is best demonstrated by the statistic that Van Peer checked out twelve of his fifteen opportunities at out shots of 92 or below.

He may need to replicate that here as he’ll likely be on the back foot for much of this match against the 2022 breakthrough star Josh Rock.

These two met just a couple of months ago in the group stage of the Grand Slam of Darts. There wasn’t too much riding on it for either player as Josh was already through and Berry was already eliminated but there was a gulf between them in the match with Rock winning 5-1.

Whilst Rock hasn’t been talked about as much this year, he’s finding his form right now. He lost in a Grand Slam classic to James Wade before losing with a 112 average in the Players Championship Finals to Gabriel Clemens. If he had been better on his doubles he’d have probably won both those matches. If he can avoid those problems this evening a comfortable win should beckon.

Scoreline Prediction: 3-0

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Stephen Bunting (1/2) v Ryan Joyce (6/4)

  • Three-Dart Average (2023): 95.79 - 93.25
  • 180s per leg (2023): 0.29 - 0.21
  • Checkout % (PDC Stage Events 2023): 38.88% - 38.92%
  • 100+ checkout per leg won (2023): 11.66% - 13.09%
  • Match Treble % (Win, most 180s & high checkout): 27.04% - 22.03%

Stephen Bunting has been one of the form players of the second half of 2023 and all of this has coincided with him increasing the weight of the dart he throws by some 50%. In his last 50 matches he’s registered 20 x 100+ averages and hit maximums at 0.33 per leg.

This has allowed him to progress to the latter stages of numerous events, including the last two TV events, the Grand Slam of Darts and Players Championship Finals where he reached the semi-final and quarter-final respectively.

He’ll need to be on his toes here however as he faces Ryan Joyce who posted a 100+ average in his opening game to beat Alex Spellman in a high quality encounter. This arguably went under the radar to many as it was the same night Luke Littler exploded on to the Ally Pally scene and Peter Wright exited at the first hurdle.

Joyce the third highest Pro Tour Order of Merit qualifier in the event is one of those players that seems to always be underrated. He too has been in form late. He was a winner on the Pro Tour in October and reached the Semi-Final of the Players Championship Finals.

This goes all the way and is hard to predict, I do think however that Bunting will win the maximum count.

Scoreline Prediction: 3-2

Nathan Aspinall (1/3) v Ricky Evans (9/4)

  • Three-Dart Average (2023): 95.93 - 93.11
  • 180s per leg (2023): 0.30 - 0.24
  • Checkout % (PDC Stage Events 2023): 37.83% - 33.63%
  • 100+ checkout per leg won (2023): 11.48% - 11.43%
  • Match Treble % (Win, most 180s & high checkout): 19.30% - 15.96 %

Nathan Aspinall is making his fifth appearance at Ally Pally and the former two-time semi-finalist has always made it through this round. It’s never been an easy ride though and each time he’s advanced it’s been 3-1 or 3-2.

Similarly, a lot of Ricky Evans matches at this stage seem to contain four and five set matches. Last year he lost 3-1 to Joe Cullen in a very good game and the year before that he lost to Daryl Gurney by the same score line. The two years prior to that he won by the same score line so it seems unlikely that this game will be a straightforward 3-0 victory for either player.

‘The Asp’ has enjoyed a good year on the whole, the highlight was him becoming World Matchplay champion in July. Evans who had a relatively easy task in defeating Simon Adams 3-0 in the first round has been handed some heavy defeats by class players on TV this year. Andrew Gilding beat him 10-5 in the UK Open, Dimitri Van Den Bergh beat him 6-1 in the World Series of Darts Finals and Gerwyn Price beat him 6-0 in the Players Championship Finals.

Based on this evidence I’m taking Nathan Aspinall to win 3-1.

Scoreline Prediction: 3-1

Afternoon Session (1230 GMT)

  • TV Coverage: Sky Sports
  • Format: First round/second round, best of five sets

http://media.paddypower.com/redirect.aspx?pid=13194133&bid=7330

Kim Huybrechts (5/6) v Richard Veenstra (5/6)

  • Three-Dart Average (2023): 92.20 - 93.77
  • 180s per leg (2023): 0.21 - 0.22
  • Checkout % (PDC Stage Events 2023): 39.51% - 44.78%
  • 100+ checkout per leg won (2023): 12.33% - 14.26%
  • Match Treble % (Win, most 180s & high checkout): 25.96% - 15.09%

A tight game in prospect as the odds suggest. These two have met five times previously and it’s Kim Huybrechts who leads overall 3-2 but Richard Veenstra who leads this metric 2-1 in 2023.

We saw Veenstra in action on Wednesday night and despite the 3-0 victory over Ben Robb he was actually out scored throughout. His finishing however kept him in control of the game and he was able to amass three ton plus checkouts. That takes him to nine wins in 13 matches in November so he’s in good form at present.

Similar remarks also apply to Huybrechts who has won six of ten matches in November including a 6-1 thumping of Gerwyn Price on TV at the Players Championship Finals.

In the last five years the former quarter-finalist has been eliminated by Dave Chisnall, Luke Humphries, Ryan Searle, Gerwyn Price and Dimitri Van Den Bergh so it’s taken a good player to stop him. He’s also never lost at this stage of the event since the new format with 96 players was introduced and I think the number 31 seed represents decent value here.

Scoreline Prediction: 3-1

CLICK HERE to back Huybrechts to win with Sky Bet

Callan Rydz (5/4) v Ricardo Pietreczko (4/7)

  • Three-Dart Average (2023): 93.02 - 93.91
  • 180s per leg (2023): 0.23 - 0.20
  • Checkout % (PDC Stage Events 2023): 31.45% - 40.84%
  • 100+ checkout per leg won (2023): 11.30% - 13.98%
  • Match Treble % (Win, most 180s & high checkout): 19.57% - 16.39%

Callan Rydz is defending quarter-final prize money from two years ago here so has quite a lot riding on this and could soon find himself dropping out the top 32 on the Order of Merit very soon. This Quarter-Final aside he’s fell at this stage in each of his other three appearances and last year, as a seed, he was up against the formidable Josh Rock.

He finds himself once again facing an opponent very much on the up in Ricardo Pietreczko. ‘Pikachu’ came through what could’ve been a potentially difficult game when he defeated Mikuru Suzuki in the opening round with the loss of just one leg.

The winner of the final Euro Tour event of the year has made great strides over the past eighteen months and the rise shouldn’t stop now, he has a lot of capability to build on this over the next twelve months and a run here would certainly help.

He suffered a bit of a blip at the Grand Slam of Darts failing to get out the group and falling susceptible to crowd boos. That aside he’s been superb in the last four months. He should have too much for Rydz who has struggled to put anything together in TV events this year and comes into this on the back of four straight defeats.

Scoreline Prediction: 1-3

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Jonny Clayton (2/7) v Steve Lennon (5/2)

  • Three-Dart Average (2023): 96.04 - 92.60
  • 180s per leg (2023): 0.21 - 0.19
  • Checkout % (PDC Stage Events 2023): 41.92% - 28.19%
  • 100+ checkout per leg won (2023): 15.69% - 10.20%
  • Match Treble % (Win, most 180s & high checkout): 15.43% - 14.14%

It’s been all hard work for Jonny Clayton since reaching the World Matchplay final. Understandably the passing of his father had a huge impact on him but there have still been signs that the true ‘Ferret’ will show itself soon.

He’s won games in the World Series of Darts Finals, Grand Slam of Darts and Players Championship Finals but not been able to build on these. He did also fair a bit better in a couple of the latter Players Championship floor events, reaching the quarter-final and semi-final of Players Championship events 23 and 24.

Lennon hasn’t had much to cheer about himself either and is fighting to save his Tour Card. He did well to fightback from 2-0 down to defeat Owen Bates but it all looked a bit tricky for him at times. I’m not sure he’ll get away with that again here.

We saw him at the Grand Slam of Darts and he lost all three group games including to Dirk Van Duijvenbode who is going through a well documented struggle at present. I can see Jonny winning with something to spare in this.

Scoreline Prediction: 3-1

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Daryl Gurney (2/5) v Steve Beaton (7/4)

  • Three-Dart Average (2023): 95.07 - 91.57
  • 180s per leg (2023): 0.24 - 0.20
  • Checkout % (PDC Stage Events 2023): 38.55% - 38.95 %
  • 100+ checkout per leg won (2023): 11.07% - 13.98%
  • Match Treble % (Win, most 180s & high checkout): 24.29% - 16.00%

The Bronzed Adonis rolled back the years in the opening round with a terrific display to defeat Wessel Nijman 3-1. He started that match as underdog but the crowd favourite who’s announced next year will be his last on Tour showed just how much experience mattered on that occasion.

His opponent here will not lack in that respect. Daryl Gurney is a former World Grand Prix and Players Championship Finals winner and is twice a quarter-finalist in the World Championship.

There’s been a lot of positive signs from Gurney this year. His win percentage for 2023 is 64% and he’s averaging 95.07 across all matches played. Whilst he’s suffered some disappointing results he demonstrated his wellbeing at Players Championship 30 by producing three ton plus averages in three successive matches.

He showed at the Matchplay this year just how capable he is by defeating both Rob Cross and Gary Anderson in the opening two rounds before losing to Joe Cullen in the quarter-finals.

Overall Beaton doesn’t have a great record in this event. In his twenty-two previous appearances he’s only reached the Last 16 on three occasions. I think ‘Superchin’ could land another knockout blow here with a big finish at the right time making a huge difference. He’s notched up a 100+ out shot in five of his last seven matches.

Scoreline Prediction: 3-1

CLICK HERE to back Gurney to win, hit over 3.5 180s and a checkout over 97.5 with Sky Bet

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