2024 WC Darts Thursday Night Preview & Tips – JP
2024 WC Darts Thursday Night Preview & Tips
A tough afternoon for us, until the final match. Stephen Bunting produced a scintillating display and whitewashed Hempel. We were one set short for our over 6.5 set bet on Cullen vs Searle but Dobey and Smith easily landed our over 17.5 180s bet to ensure we didn’t go home empty handed. We go again this evening, check out James Punt’s 2024 WC Darts Thursday night match previews and tips below.
Gerwyn Price vs. Brendan Dolan
This is an interesting game. It is a repeat of a match these two played at the same stage of the tournament in December 2020. Price won that match 4-3 and if I remember correctly, Dolan missed a match dart.
Their H2H record is surprisingly close at 7-5 to Price, so Dolan knows he is not without a chance here. He does have a couple of things going for him. One is that Price does prefer a faster paced opponent. We have seen a couple of players, Michael Smith last night being one, who have found playing against a slower player very difficult. The other is the crowd.
Boo Boys
Price said earlier in the tournament that he had seriously considered pulling out. Such is his dislike of the crowds at Ally Pally that he didn’t want to play in the biggest event on the calendar.
Price has made some progress in his relationship with crowds, but the Ally Pally is different. The fans are more of the football tradition. They have paid good money to attend and that gives them the right to abuse which ever players they want, however they want.
It is not as bad at other venues and Price knows that this is the worst place on the planet for him to try and play darts. Last year he took to wearing industrial ear defenders to mute the abuse. It was farcical, he lost, the crowd won, and they will be looking for another victory this evening. Dolan will want no part of it, but he can do nothing about it either.
Iceman In Form
Price is in great form, winning eight of his last ten matches, but he isn’t at his best. There is a little something missing. Major titles obviously, but also just that game in, game out relentless heavy scoring. He is having more dips, maybe losing concentration, whatever it is, he is missing the final 5% of his game.
Brendan Dolan won something of a classic second round match, requiring extra time to beat his friend, Mickey Mansell, 3-2 and 6-5 in the deciding set. It was typical Dolan. Just hanging around, waiting for his chances. It was a 95 average, not earth shattering, but competitive, and when you can do the right things at the right time, very effective.
Price Too Short
Price is the 1.13 favourite which is ridiculously short given their H2H record and the venue. Dolan is 7.50 which is tempting. It is not like he has never beaten Price, he has played Price in three TV matches and won two.
Dolan has caused a big surprise in a major this season already, beating MVG in the Matchplay. Dolan is a very experienced player and he will relish this opportunity. What has he got to lose?
All three of their TV matches had one thing in common, they were all close. It was 10-8 to Dolan in the 2021 Players Championship finals, 4-3 to Price in the 2021 World Championship, and 10-9 to Dolan in the 2016 Grand Slam. I think we could have, if not a shock result, then something close to it.
2024 WC Darts Thursday night Tip: 0.5 point Brendan Dolan to win 4-3 @ 29.00 with Hills
WC Darts Thursday night Tip: 1 point Brendan Dolan + 2.5 sets to win @ 2.60 with Ladbrokes
2024 WC Darts Thursday night Tip: 1 point over 5.5 sets @ 2.75 generally available
Luke Humphries vs. Ricardo Pietreczko
Humphries remains the second favourite to lift the Sid Waddell trophy, but his odds have drifted from 4.00 to 5.00. Well, he only averaged 93.8 in his opening match which means he is hopelessly out of form (he has only won his last fourteen matches in a row). It has more to do with the Littler hype and MVG talking himself up.
You will have to work hard to try and prove that Humphries is not playing very well. He isn’t going to average 100+ in every match, but he has in ten of his last fourteen. He is quite good at darts. Humphries is also 3-0 against Pietreczko, although two matches ended 6-5.
Thin Skinned
The diminutive German will be getting pelters from the ‘Two World Wars and One World Cup’ brigade. He will likely hate it as he has a very thin skin.
He is playing well but has lost five of his last ten matches. Pikachu doesn’t have the firepower of Humphries, but he is an excellent finisher, he thinks he is the best in the world when it comes to finishing, and he has been very impressive at times.
Unfortunately for Pietreczko, his doubling is the only part of his game that is better than Humphries and only by a fraction, 42.36% compared to 41.17%.
Cool Hand Hot Fav
Humphries is the 1.20 favourite with Pietreczko 5.50. The odds look about right and this is more about how much Pietreczko can get out of the game. The long format may not suit him, certainly not in a hostile environment, and Humphries is 3-0 in his four World Championship third round matches. Humphries got a bye when Chizzy had to pull out in the 2022 Championship.
He got a different result in every match, winning 4-1, 4-2 and 4-3. He needs a 4-0 to complete the set, but I expect Pietreczko to get on the scoreboard. Humphries played another German at this stage in the 2021 Championship, and he beat Nico Kurz 4-2 that time. I’ll have a small play on something similar.
2024 WC Darts Thursday night Tip: 0.5 point Luke Humphries to win 4-2 @ 5.00 with Fitzdares
Ricky Evans vs. Daryl Gurney
Their last match as managerial stablemates. Their previous thirteen matches have seen eight wins for Superchin and five for Rapid Ricky. Gurney has won six of their last seven matches and he is 3-0 on TV, including a 3-1 win here in 2021.
Evans is playing better since he slowed down a little, but Gurney has also improved his game in 2023 and his 100.79 average in the second round was his fourth ton plus in his last ten matches, of which he has only won five. There were four sub 92 averages in there as well, and it is his lack of consistency which has been holding him back.
Ricky Evans has also won five of his last ten matches and there is a similar inconsistency in his game. He lacks the out and out firepower that Gurney can unleash, but he is perfectly capable of good scoring.
Impressive Second Rounds
Both players put in great performances in the second round, Gurney was in vintage form, while Evans landed us a very nice 13.00 winner by beating Aspinall 3-0 and averaging 99 in the process.
Daryl Gurney has not enjoyed much success at this stage of the tournament, losing six of his eight third round matches. Evans has played four third round matches and lost the lot, three of them to nil, but he did face MVG twice.
Neither player has much in the way of positive mental associations with the third round.
Daryl Gurney is the 1.53 favourite, with Evans 2.62. I wouldn’t call either value bets. Their H2H record does suggest that Gurney is the pick and he is the better player. It is just the inconsistency which makes backing him hard. Gurney beat Evans in a Euro Tour final in 2019 and since then, Evans has lost five of their next six matches, and that was only a 5-4 win in a Grand Slam qualifier.
