2024 Masters Darts Sunday Afternoon Preview

James Punt got back on track with a nice 3.25 winner on Saturday evening. Daryl Gurney and Bunting both won and our outright pick MVG also cruised through. Now, it is time for James Punt’s 2024 Masters Darts Sunday Afternoon preview. Check it out below.

We have two big quarter finals this afternoon as Daryl Gurney and Stephen Bunting attempt to move into the semi-finals and land our two ante post bets at nice odds.

Nathan Aspinall vs. Daryl Gurney

The Asp beat Dirk van Duijvenbode 10-5 last night. It was a low quality affair, as was to be expected, with both players struggling for form. Aspinall has lost six of his last ten matches and his last three have seen sub 90 averages. His A-game is still in there, but hopefully that can remain out of sight for now.

Superchin had a good win over his old nemesis, Joe Cullen, yesterday. It was a good quality match with both players very strong on the doubles, up to the very last leg where it all went a bit Pete Tong for both.

A late replacement for Gerwyn Price, Daryl Gurney has landed himself £12000 he wasn’t expecting and this is a chance to have a bit of fun and pick up some more cash.

No Pressure On Superchin

Gurney has not been doing much practice during the break and that may well bite him on the bum at some point, but there is no pressure on him and this is a classic Brucie Bonus.

He has been slowly turning his game around in the last 12 months, much improved doubling is noticeable, his power scoring isn’t quite there yet, but he is getting close to a return to top form. A nice wee run here will do him no harm at all.

Gurney Leads H2H

Their H2H record is 7-4 in Gurney’s favour. Most of their previous encounters have been pretty close affairs and this could be another, but with Aspinall struggling, this is a good opportunity for Superchin to make another TV semi-final.

It is a worry that this is just his second game of the year, while Aspinall has played five. However, Aspinall has not played well and he will be aware of that.

We are effectively on Gurney to win this @ 8.00 which is a good position. You can lay off and take some cover, but I make Gurney the favourite to win. The market makes Aspinall the 1.85 favourite with Gurney the marginal outsider. The value lies with Gurney if you are not on the ante post bet, but I’ll sit back and cheer on The Chin.

2024 Masters Darts Sunday Afternoon Tip: No bet

Stephen Bunting vs Peter Wright

As above, we are effectively on Bunting to win this match at 8.00. He is the 1.30 favourite and it is easy to see why.

Bunting pulled off a great comeback against Ross Smith in the first round, surviving a match dart against him, and then he beat Luke Humphries 10-7 last night in a great game of darts.

Humphries averaged 99, so Bunting didn’t get him on an off night. Both players were knocking in huge checkouts and it was Bunting who kept it going and took the win.

Peter Wright will be delighted to have just got a win. He beat Ratajski 10-8 and he looked good, for the first half of the match. Snakebite looked more like his old self and he raced to a 6-0 win over a player with whom he has an amazing H2H record over.

But then it all went tits up and his average collapsed, Ratajski was allowed back in the match and Wright eventually fell over the line in a very unconvincing fashion. Clearly Wright’s confidence remains paper thin.

Consistent Bunting

Bunting has won seven of his last ten matches and he is rarely putting in a duff performance these day. However, he does get tight at the business end of tournaments. He finds winning titles very hard, so nothing is a given. Hopefully he can bang in another solid performance as that will surely be enough.

Peter Wright has lost three of his five matches in 2024 and his two wins were the unconvincing one yesterday vs. Ratajski, and a 6-5 win over Haruki Muramatsu. His highest average of the year is just 93.6 and that is unlikely to bother Bunting, unless he gets overly tight.

Again, there is the opportunity to lay off, but I am happy to let it all ride as Bunting looks a strong favourite to win.

2024 Masters Darts Sunday Afternoon Tip: No bet

Michael van Gerwen vs. Dave Chisnall

Our other ante post bet for the tournament is MVG to win the whole thing, but he faces what could be a very stiff task here. Dave Chisnall has prepared well for this event, and while it is a non-ranking event, he will be desperate to finally get his first ever TV title under his belt.

He was the 10th ranked player at the start of the event and the 10th ranked player has finished as runner up in four of the last nine Masters. An omen? From our point of view, hopefully not, but MVG is going to need his A game, or hope that Chizzy gets tight within sight of the winning line.

Easy Win For MVG

Van Gerwen had an easy win over a disappointing Chris Dobey last night. The defending champion just didn’t turn up and MVG just cruised to a 10-4 win. He was a bit flaky on the doubles but otherwise his game was just about OK.

He won his last five legs in 15 darts or less, but he was pretty ropey to start the match with four legs of 17 or over. MVG has won eight of his last ten matches, all played this year, so he is in good form and match fit.

Dave Chisnall has also won eight of his last ten matches, only two have been played this year, but he averaged 109 against Schindler and 97.6 against Danny Noppert yesterday. Noppert made a bit of a mess of things and Chizzy was a little fortunate, but he won 10-8 in the end.

Masters QF Regulars

Chisnall has played six Masters quarter finals and won three. MVG has played eight and won five, including a 10-9 win over Chisnall in 2015, but he has lost his last two, both 7-10 defeats to Rob Cross last year and Joe Cullen in 2022.

These two have met in this event four times. two quarter finals, a semi-final and a final. MVG won them all, so he does have a bit of a hold over Chizzy in Milton Keynes. Their overall H2H record is 50-13 to MVG, but Chisnall has won their last two matches, and four of their last six.

MVG is the 1.54 favourite with Chisnall 2.60. I am happy to hedge off with a bet on Chizzy. He has played well so far and his recent record against MVG is encouraging.

2024 Masters Darts Sunday Afternoon Tip: 1 point Dave Chisnall to win @ 2.60 generally available

Dimitri van den Bergh vs. Damon Heta

These two famously shared a house together during lockdown and they know each other inside out.

Dimitri van den Bergh is making great play of the fact that he is working with a sports psychologist to help him with his game. He has done so before, so I’m not sure why it is suddenly a thing.

I have to say, he appeared quite manic yesterday and not just because he had beaten Michael Smith 10-6, despite being outscored and out finished by Smith. It was only a 90.7 average, but doing the right things at the right time did it for him. It was an OK performance, nothing more.

Impressive Heta

Damon Heta has reached yet another quarter final, and he has been arguably the most impressive of the players so far. He averaged 102.9 against Clemens in the first round and 102.7 against Rob Cross yesterday. Cross missed too many doubles again but Heta was putting him under a lot of pressure.

A bit like Stephen Bunting, the business end is where things can start to go wrong for Heta. Since the start of 2021, Heta has played an amazing 48 quarter finals in all competitions and won 31. A pretty good conversion rate. Semi-finals are another story, but he does pretty well in quarters.

Their H2H record is 5-1 to Heta. Van den Bergh’s’ only win was in a very short format World Cup match. Heta is playing better and has a good H2H record over Dimitri. Heta is the 1.67 favourite, but I’ll take him on the handicap.

2024 Masters Darts Sunday Afternoon Tip: 1 point Damon Heta -1.5 legs to win @ 2.00 with Skybet, Fitzdares

I’ll be back with a brief look at this evening’s semi-finals.

-JamesPunt