Michael van Gerwen (Picture: Kais Bodensieck/PDC Europe)

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

By Sporting Life

Darts

Sat December 18, 2021 · 4y ago

Carl Fletcher's best bet won in the afternoon session, and our darts expert now turns his attention to the evening with match-by-match predictions, best bets and a suggested acca.

Darts betting tips: World Championship day four

1pt Rowby-John Rodriguez to win -1.5 Sets at 5/4 (Sky Bet)

0.5pt MVG to win 3-1 at 4/1 (Sky Bet)

Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook

Evening session

TV Coverage: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)
Format: Best of five sets (Rounds 1 and 2)

Adam Hunt v Boris Krcmar (R1)

Head to Head (TV): 0-0 (0-0)
2021 Head to Head (TV): 0-0 (0-0)
2021 Titles (TV): 0-0 (0-0)
PDC Three-Dart Average (2021): 88.88 – 91.87
PDC 180’s per leg (2021): 0.21 – 0.2
PDC Checkout Percentage (Stage Events 2021): 42.31% – 30%
PDC 100+ checkouts per leg won (2021): 8.17% – 10.92%

Adam Hunt had a good run here last year defeating Lisa Ashton and Jamie Hughes before losing 4-0 to Dirk Van Duijvenbode in the Last 32. That was arguably his best performance as of three as he averaged 97.39 and hit nine 180’s in just eighteen legs of darts.

We know he’s capable on his day but he’s not had the best of campaigns in 2021. He’s not ventured further than the Last 32 on the floor and other than qualifying for Gilbraltar Darts Trophy he failed to qualify for the Hungarian Darts Trophy or the Grand Slam of Darts and suffered early exits in the UK Open and the European Championships. He comes into this event with eight victories in his last twenty matches, averaging 88.88 for the year.

His Croatian opponent has become quite the dab-hand at coming through qualifying events. That was the route he used to achieve qualification here but he also managed to qualify for both Euro Tour events and the Grand Slam of Darts, only disappointing in the World Series of Darts qualifiers.

At the events itself he’s not fared as well. In particular at the Grand Slam of Darts he lost all three group games to Rob Cross, James Wade and Jim Williams by leg scores of 3-15 in total and averaged just 88.73 for the event.

He’s reached a couple of Quarter-Finals on the floor this year and boasts a better seasonal average at 91.87. He lost to Ron Meulenkamp at this stage last year and whilst I’d have him slight favourite for this one a bet on total sets may be a safer option in a match that could go all the way.

Predicted Scoreline: 2-3

Our unmissable guide is out now

Ted Evetts v Jim Williams (R1)

Head to Head (TV): 0-0 (0-0)
2021 Head to Head (TV): 0-0 (0-0)
2021 Titles (TV): 0-0 (0-0)
PDC Three-Dart Average (2021): 90.07 – N/A
PDC 180’s per leg (2021): 0.2 – N/A
PDC Checkout Percentage (Stage Events 2021): 38.1% – N/A
PDC 100+ checkouts per leg won (2021): 13.6 % – N/A

Ted Evetts ended his 2021 campaign by being crowned World Youth Champion, defeating rising star Nathan Rafferty in the final. He is already a Tour Card Holder in his own right and managed to reach the Quarter-Finals of Players Championship event 14 this year.

Many will remember him for another reason however, that defeat to Fallon Sherrock two years ago. He’ll need to erase that memory and just get on with it here but as we witnessed when Fallon beat Mensur Suljović at the Grand Slam of Darts in November that’s easier said than done.

‘Super Ted’ is averaging 90.07 for the year and has hit 38% of his doubles, disappointingly though he’s won just 40% of the matches he’s played.

He faces former BDO World finalist Jim Williams who for some will be a new name to them has bags of experience. We recently saw him play at the Grand Slam of Darts and he was very unlucky not to prevail from the group having won two group games against James Wade and Boris Krcmar, losing just the one match to Rob Cross

He averaged 91.34 during those three matches and his doubling was good at 43.33%. He also fared fairly well at the UK Open defeating Zoran Lerchbacher and Kirk Shepherd before losing to Madars Razma in the third round.

He joins the Tour next year and you’d imagine he’d do well after topping the UK Challenge Tour this year. I think he’s got enough in the locker to win this one but I don’t think it will be one-way traffic.

Predicted Scoreline: 1-3

Gerwyn Price: "Fallon Sherrock needs to reach the world final to earn a Premier League spot."

Rowby-John Rodriguez v Nick Kenny (R1)

Head to Head (TV): 3-1 (0-0)
2021 Head to Head (TV): 2-0 (0-0)
2021 Titles (TV): 0-0 (0-0)
PDC Three-Dart Average (2021): 92.51 – 88.94
PDC 180’s per leg (2021): 0.2 – 0.2
PDC Checkout Percentage (Stage Events 2021): N/A – N/A
PDC 100+ checkouts per leg won (2021): N/A – 11.89%

Austrian Rowby-John Rodriguez is another non-Tour Card holder who’s had a good season. He played in 29 of the 30 floor events this year with three Last 16 runs the forefront of an impressive campaign.

We also saw him at the Grand Slam of Darts where he achieved a tournament average of 95.80 and came through a group featuring Ryan Joyce, Chris Dobey and Stephen Bunting before losing emphatically 10-2 to James Wade in the Last 16 when he never got going.

He also had an impressive run to the fourth round of the UK Open having started in the first round. On that occasion he was defeated 10-7 to Jonny Clayton.

His Welsh opponent Nick Kenny played here last year where he beat Derk Telnekes before losing to Jermaine Wattimena in the second round.

He didn’t fair quite as well in the UK Open, losing in the Last 96 to Kai Fan Leung. He came through the qualifiers to feature here defeating Brett Claydon, Matthew Edgar, Michael Unterbuchner and Gordon Mathers along the way.

His seasonal average of 88.94 is towards the lower end of the list of Tour Card Holder averages and he has a bit to do here.

They’ve played twice this year and it’s Rowby-John who’s won both matches 6-2. I think he’ll have too much once again. In both these matches the Austrian raced into an early lead so taking him to win the first set could be a good bet.

CLICK HERE to back Rodriguez (-1.5 sets) to win with Sky Bet

Predicted Scoreline: 3-0

Fallon Sherrock is 'ready' for Gerwyn Price, the World Darts Championship and the Premier League!

Michael Van Gerwen v Chas Barstow (R2)

Head to Head (TV): 0-0 (0-0)
2021 Head to Head (TV): 0-0 (0-0)
2021 Titles (TV): 0-0 (0-0)
PDC Three-Dart Average (2021): 99.34 – 91.33
PDC 180’s per leg (2021): 0.22 – 0.2
PDC Checkout Percentage (Stage Events 2021): 43.53% – N/A
PDC 100+ checkouts per leg won (2021): 14.16% – N/A

MVG of course needs no introduction but his opponent Chas Barstow is little less known in comparison. He isn’t a tour card holder but played every Players Championship event reaching two quarter-finals too.

He came through an opening match with John Norman Jnr and after pinching the opening leg he settled down and always looked in control. His average was particularly impressive too at 93.02 as he won 3-1. That wasn’t too dissimilar to his tour average of 91.33.

That is way short of the standard being set by MVG who tops the average chart with 99.34 for the season. If that’s good though he’s not quite amassed the trophy haul he normally would with just two titles to his name, in fact it’s the first time in a decade he hasn’t held one of the current majors.

Rightly so, he’s still a threat to everyone despite only being ranked number three at present. He may have regressed somewhat from his peak we witnessed previously but the chasing pack has also improved in terms of both quality and quantity, the talent pool is so vast these days.

He’s looked more consistent of late and in November he won 23 of the 27 matches he played, averaging 100+ on 15 occasions. He should be too good for Barstow but he typically drops a set in the opening round despite winning easily, if recent years results are anything to go by. I expect a similar scoreline this evening.