2024 World Matchplay Outright Preview

The 2024 World Matchplay is the second most prestigious tournament on the darting calendar. The winner picks up £200,000 all the way down to £10,000 for the first round losers.

Tournament format is a straightforward matchplay, with all matches required to be won by two clear legs, with a maximum of six extra legs before a deciding leg must be played. The matches are long. The first round is best of 19 legs, second round best of 21 legs, quarter finals best of 31 legs, semi-finals best of 33 and the final best of 35.

This field is made up of the top sixteen in the world rankings (the seeds), and they are joined by the top sixteen from this year’s Pro Tour OOM, not already qualified.

Winter Gardens

The venue for the 2024 World Matchplay is the Winter Gardens in Blackpool, a very intimate setting with the crowd up close to the stage. The venue can become very hot, although with this summer being cancelled, that is less likely to be a problem.

The tournament was first played in 1994 and was dominated by Phil Taylor, who won sixteen titles in total, the last in 2017. Since Taylor’s last win, we have had six different winners (and six different runners up) and the title has not been defended since MVG did it in 2016.

In the last ten years, the tournament has been won by a player seeded in the top nine. Only one unseeded player has lifted the trophy, Dimitri van den Bergh in 2020, when the tournament was not played at the Winter Gardens, but behind closed doors in Milton Keynes. The last ten runners up have all been top 10 seeds. Clearly the cream rises to the top.

2024 world matchplay Seeds

1 Luke Humphries 

Has won six of his last ten singles matches, and also lifted the World Cup of Darts with Michael Smith. He has not been on his absolute best form lately, but there is not too much missing. This will be Humphries’ fourth Matchplay and his best result was reaching last year’s semi-final.

2 Michael van Gerwen 

Not in top form, despite winning seven of his last ten matches. He is lacking confidence, struggling on the outer ring in his last three matches, all of which saw sub 30% checkout rates. Van Gerwen did not play in last week’s Players Championship events.

He has played in fifteen previous Matchplays, won three, but only one of those wins came in the last seven years. MVG was dumped out in the first round last year by Brendan Dolan, and this year he is the outsider to win his first round match vs. Luke Littler.

3 Michael Smith 

World Cup winner along with Luke Humphries but his last four matches last week saw sub 91 averages, which wasn’t ideal preparation. Smith has played in eleven Matchplays. His best result was making the final in 2019, losing to Rob Cross. He has failed to get beyond the second round on eight occasions.

4 Gerwyn Price 

Another top seed whose form is far from inspiring. Price recently withdrew from the Welsh World Cup team to undergo medical tests. He turned up for last week’s Players Championship events and overall, Price has lost five of his last ten matches.

He won a World Series event this season and was runner up in another, but outside of what are glorified exhibition tournaments, Price has not won a tournament since 1st November 2023.

His win rate in 2024 has dropped to under 59%, his lowest since 2018. Price was runner up in 2022 and has made two other quarter final appearances, but he has failed to get beyond the second round in his six other appearances.

5 Nathan Aspinall 

The defending champion, but another player struggling with his form, due to another arm injury. He is playing while in pain, trying his best, and he has won six of his last ten matches. He is looking to be the first player to defend the title since MVG in 2016, but his scoring in his last ten has been weak, with five sub 90 averages and just two 95+.

It could be difficult for him to play in pain and in longer matches than usual. The Asp has made at least the quarter finals for the last three years, so his tournament form is good.

6 Rob Cross 

Has won seven of his last ten matches, but he hasn’t played a lot of darts since the end of the Premier League. He won a World Series event last month but he has skipped the last six Players Championship events, including last week’s.

The last time we saw Cross he was thrashed 0-6 by Michael Smith on the Euro Tour. He may well just have taken the chance to recharge the batteries after that long and unsuccessful Premier League campaign.

His recent form just isn’t that recent. Cross has a strange Matchplay record. He won in in 2019 but has not gone beyond the second round in his six other appearances.

7 Dave Chisnall 

Finally we get to a top seed who is in decent form. Chizzy won the European Darts Open three weeks ago and he has won eight of his last ten matches. His problem is that in his long career, he has never won a Major title.

Chisnall has played in thirteen Matchplays and reached five quarter finals, losing them all. He has not gone beyond the second round for the last five years.

8 Jonny Clayton 

Last year’s runner up, Clayton was playing his matches in Blackpool, then visiting his sick father in between. The passing of his father shortly afterwards knocked the stuffing out of Clayton, and his form suffered. It has taken a year, but The Ferret has rediscovered his best form.

He was runner up in the Dutch Darts Championship at the end of May and he then took the whole of June off. He returned to action in last week’s Players Championships, reaching Tuesday’s quarter final, and he then won the title on Wednesday.

Clayton has won eleven of his last twelve matches and hit six ton plus averages, including a 107 in a 6-2 win over Dom Taylor, who averaged 110 in defeat. He was on fire, banging in a lot of ton plus checkouts, and was just very hard to beat. His record here before making last year’s final was very poor, winning just one match from five appearances.

9 Dimitri van den Bergh 

Another player to get back to winning ways after a period of poor form. Van den Bergh won PC12 last month and has won seven of his last ten matches, but he has lost his last three. I wouldn’t worry about that too much as he averaged 107 in 4-6 loss to Simon Whitlock last time out. He has had three sub 90 averages in his last ten, and I would worry more about that.

Dimitri has a good tournament record. He won the Covid Matchplay in 2020 but showed that he can handle the Winter Gardens by being runner up in 2021 and a semi-finalist in 2022. Good recent form and a good tournament record mean that Van den Bergh is on the shortlist to win his second Matchplay, and second Major of 2024.

10 Peter Wright 

Continues to struggle for form. His is a long term decline and it is hard to see that he will get back to the player he was. He is still in the top 10 in the world rankings, but in terms of actual form, he is no more than an average tour player.

His form based FDI ranking is 74th. Wright has not lost a first round match in Blackpool since 2014, he won the title in 2021, was runner up in 2017, but he is a shadow of his former self.

11 Damon Heta 

The Heat had a terrible World Cup, playing poorly and leaving it to Simon Whitlock to do the heavy lifting, which meant a second round exit at the hands of Italy.

Heta did find a bit of better form last week, reaching the quarter final on Wednesday, and he has won seven of his last ten singles matches. However, four of those matches saw sub 90 averages.

His form is hard to pin down and is perhaps too inconsistent to see a Major title coming his way right now. Heta reached the quarter finals last year, having been knocked out in the first round in the previous two.

12 Danny Noppert 

Still hoovering up the money without really threatening to win titles. He has reached no less than ten ranking quarter finals in 2024 and won just three. He won one semi-final, on his way to winning PC8 back in May, his fifth PDC title in six years.

Noppert has won six of his last ten matches, but most recently he has lost four of his last five. Noppert reached the semi-final in 2022, the only time he got beyond the second round in five visits to Blackpool.

13 Ross Smith 

Smudger has hit some good form recently. He was runner up to Chisnall in the final of the European Darts Open last month and he won PC13 last Tuesday. I have seen him in better form scoring wise, but winning breeds confidence.

Smith remains the most prolific 180 hitter in the sport over the last twelve months and when that part of his game clicks, he can be hard to beat. Smith has only played in two previous Matchplays and lost both first round matches.

14 Chris Dobey 

Another heavy scorer, but one who is not in good form. Dobey has lost seven of his last ten matches, despite seven 95+ averages. Just as Ross Smith has been winning without playing his best, Dobey has been scoring well, but losing. That is not helping his confidence.

Dobey reached the quarter final last year, he reached four ranking Major quarter finals in 2023, but his only TV title was in last year’s Masters. Previous to 2023, Dobey had lost three first round matches in Blackpool.

15 Joe Cullen 

Really struggling for form. Cullen has lost ten of his last eleven matches and it is over a month since he won a match. He reached the semi-final last year, but it is hard to see him repeating that, given his poor form.

16 Stephen Bunting 

Continues to play well but struggles at the business end. Bunting has a win rate of 66%, but since winning the Masters back in February, he has played in nine quarter finals, winning three, losing two semi-finals and one final. He has held a tour card for over 10 years and has won just three PDC titles.

Bunting has won six of his last ten matches and is playing well enough to suggest he could win a few matches. However, he is drawn to potentially face Luke Humphries in the second round, which would be tough, but they are 2-2 in 2024 and 1-1 in best of nineteen leg matches this season.

If he is going to beat Humphries, it would have to be in an early round. Bunting has played nine Matchplays and lost seven first round matches.

2024 World Matchplay – The Best Of The Rest

Recent history suggests we need not look outside the top 10 seeds to find the finalists, but it must be said that only a handful make much appeal, and there are a few unseeded players who could upset the formbook.

Gary Anderson 

Has won six of his last ten matches. All four defeats were in the deciding leg. His consistency isn’t quite there, but his A game is top class. The fact that he lost last leg deciders to Kevin Doets, Ritchie Burnett, Radoslaw Szaganski and Graham Usher is a bit off putting. All decent players, but not in the same class as the other thirty one players here this week.

As usual, Anderson doesn’t really play a full schedule, he has only played 51 singles matches in 2024. He won PC2 in February and was runner up in PC3. Anderson won the European Darts Grand Prix in April, which he meant he could skip the rest of the Euro Tour season.

Since then, he has only played nine singles matches, winning five. Anderson has not won a Major since 2019 and not made a final since 2021. He won this in 2018 and was runner up in 2020, but he has failed to go beyond the second round eleven times, from fifteen appearances.

Josh Rock 

Still very inexperienced in Major Championships. Rock has played in fourteen Majors and his best result is a quarter final in last year’s Grand Slam. Rock has won on the Euro Tour in 2024, back in May, and most recently he has won six of his last ten singles matches. He is playing pretty well on the whole.

Ryan Searle 

Has become something of a specialist Euro Tour quarter finalist, reaching and losing five in 2024. His consistency leaves a bit to be desired as his last ten matches saw three ton plus averages, and three sub 90.

Searle reached the quarter final last year, having lost in the first round for the previous two. He has reached one Major final, back in 2021, but he is more comfortable on the floor where he has won five Players Championships.

Martin Schindler 

Won his first PDC title at the International Darts Open back in April and has reached two other Euro Tour semi-finals. Schindler made two Major quarter finals last year but is yet to get beyond the first round here in Blackpool, from two previous visits.

His recent form is good, seven wins from his last ten matches. He is enjoying plenty of good runs and he could win a match or two, but he has a tough draw.

Gian van Veen 

The talented young Dutchman is playing OK, winning six of his last ten matches, but he isn’t quite on his best form. Van Veen reached the semi-final of last year’s European Championship and had a good run in this year’s UK Open, so he can perform on stage, but he is making his Matchplay debut and it is hard to expect too much.

He faces Rob Cross in the first round and their last four matches all required a deciding leg, with Cross won the two stage matches.

Luke Littler 

The second favourite at 5.00. He was shorter, but being drawn to play MVG in the first round pushed his odds out, and MVG’s. Littler has a seasonal win rate of 75% in 2024, has won the Premier League, a Players Championship title, two Euro Tour titles and two World Series titles, as well as being runner up in the World Championship and a UK Open quarter finalist. Only a fool would rule him out.

His most recent form sees seven wins from his last ten matches. He did put in two poor performances in the last week’s Players Championship events, including a 79 average in a 5-6 loss to Robert Grundy and an 89 average in a 3-6 loss to James Hurell. Probably just a bad couple of days at the office.

Ricardo Pietreczko 

Another of the tournament debutants. Pikachu has dined well from winning the German Darts Championship late last year. He was a semi-finalist in the first Euro Tour event of the season, but he has not done a lot since.

The temperamental German has won just thirteen Players Championship matches from fourteen tournaments and lost five first round matches on the Euro Tour. His win rate in 2024 is only 45% and he has lost eight of his last ten matches. He has drawn Luke Humphries in the first round. No chance.

Daryl Gurney 

A two time Matchplay semi-finalist and a quarter finalist last year. Superchin’s deep runs in the Majors have tailed off in recent years and it is a similar story on the Euro Tour, only making the final day twice from eight events played.

He did make his first final of any kind in PC11 last month, losing the final 7-8 to Alan Soutar. Gurney has lost five of his last ten matches and has looked a bit flat. He faces Gerwyn Price in the first round, and I would not put it past him to cause a surprise, but a deep run? Hard to see.

Ryan Joyce 

Lost his first round match on debut in 2020 and this will be only his second visit to the Winter Gardens. Joyce is a player that is underrated. He is not a big name but when he is in form, he can compete and win things.

I had some loose change on him to win PC29 last October and he won at 176.00. That was despite him having been runner up in PC24, a semi-finalist in PC19 and runner up in PC16. His good form was considered irrelevant as he wasn’t a big name player.

Joyce’s most recent form is five wins from his last ten matches, but he was runner up in PC9 in late May, going down 6-8 to Michael Smith. He has been hitting some very big averages lately and he is regarded as one of the best finishers in the game. If he scores well and is finishing well, he is a dangerous opponent.

Joyce reached the semi-final of last year’s Players Championship finals, his best result in a Major. He could give Bunting a headache in the first round, with the winner facing Luke Humphries.

Raymond van Barneveld 

Barney’s best finish in the Matchplay was losing the final in 2010.In his last eight appearances he has failed to get beyond round two. Van Barneveld may not be the player he once was, but he still plays to a decent level. He won PC5 back in March, he has won six of his last ten matches, his seasonal average is 93.75, and he has very respectable 65% win rate in 2024.

Brendan Dolan 

Has played in nine previous Matchplays but has only won four matches and never got beyond the second round. He did make a big impact last year, beating MVG in the first round. His recent form is not good, losing six of his last ten matches and hitting seven sub 90 averages.

Ritchie Edhouse 

Has had a Tour Card since 2017 but is only now making his Matchplay debut. His good performances on the Euro Tour have propelled him up the Pro Tour rankings and he is reaping the rewards. Just getting £10k for being a first round loser would be a plus.

Edhouse has played fifteen PDC Majors, with his best result a couple of World Championship second rounds. Edhouse has a 2024 win rate of 68%, but he has lost five of his last ten matches and his scoring has been weak in recent matches, with six sub 90 averages.

In April and May, he was hitting some big numbers and made two Euro Tour quarter finals and a Players Championship semi-final, so he is not at his best coming into this.

Krzysztof Ratajski 

Reached the quarter finals in 2020 and the semi-final in 2021. The 2021 season saw Ratajski reach three Major quarter finals and that semi-final, but as a rule, his stage play is not as good as his floor play. The Polish Eagle has lost six of his last ten matches, but he did reach the semi-final of PC10 in May. His stage form in 2024 is played thirteen matches, won three.

Luke Woodhouse 

Making his Matchplay debut. Woodhouse has played in five World Championships, seven UK Opens, a Grand Prix, a Grand Slam and four Players Championship finals, of which he reached the quarter finals last year. He is a journeyman pro who is having a good season, much like Edhouse.

His seasonal average is 93.75, his win rate 58% but his recent form sees six defeats in his last ten matches. He was playing better in May when he reached a Euro Tour quarter final and Players Championship quarter final. He is just a bit less consistent recently, but there is still some good stuff there.

Andrew Gilding 

This will be Goldfinger’s fifth Matchplay, but he has only ever won one match, back in 2015. His recent form sees five wins from his last ten, but he did make the quarter final of PC13 last week.

Gilding is very inconsistent, hitting five sub 90 averages in those last ten. He is only averaging 91.22 in 2024 which isn’t a sign that he can have a good run here. He plays the out of form Peter Wright in the first round, and he could win that with one of his better performances.

However, he met Wright at the same stage last year and lost 4-10, and when they met in this year’s UK Open, Wright won 10-1. They also met here in the second round, and Wright won 13-7.

James Wade 

Making his nineteenth Matchplay appearance. Wade won it in 2007 and has been runner up five times. However, he has won just five matches here in the last eight years, and lost four in the first round.

Wade was the final qualifier, finishing £3k ahead of Kevin Doets on the Pro Tour list. His recent form sees six wins from his last ten, and he has played some very good darts of late, hitting five ton plus averages and a couple of 98s, so do not ignore him early on.

The 2024 world matchplay Draw

1st Quarter

A very tough quarter and one which has no less than three players I fancy to make the final. Humphries is the obvious one. He has a great opening match vs. Pietreczko, one of only five needed to win the title. Getting a nice opening draw is worth a lot.

Dimitri van den Bergh is something of a tournament specialist, having won it in 2020, runner up in 2021 and a semi-finalist in 2022. He has already won a Major in 2024 and his most recent form is decent.

And finally, The Ferret. I was very impressed by Jonny Clayton’s performances in the recent Players Championship events. He was back to his best, and his best is very good, good enough to win Majors. He was runner up here under very difficult circumstances last year, and he is due a bit of payback.

Tough Opener

Van den Bergh has a tough 2024 World Matchplay opener against Martin Schindler who is playing well. Clayton looks to have a slightly easier task to beat Raymond van Barneveld. Should they get to meet in the quarter final, Clayton is 6-2 against Humphries. The Ferret beat Humphries 17-15 in last year’s semi-final, so they both know what can happen.

Humphries is the 4.33 favourite, Jonny Clayton 41.00. The value looks to lie with Clayton for me. He fits the bill as top ten ranked player in the event, and given his form, he makes plenty of appeal. Had the quarter been a bit less competitive, it would have been a stronger stake, but he has to be backed.

2024 World Matchplay Tip: 0.5 point e/w Jonny Clayton to win the 2024 World Matchplay @ 41.00 with Boylesports, BET365

2nd Quarter

This looks less competitive than the first quarter. Gerwyn Price is the top seed, but he is not in top form, not fully fit and has a tough opening match with Daryl Gurney.

Nathan Aspinall, the defending champion, is another player who is not fully fit and not in top form. Danny Noppert is always capable of a good run but comes up short too often for my liking. He also faces a suddenly resurgent James Wade in the first round. Ross Smith is the final seed and Smudger makes some appeal.

Smith is in good form, a recent tournament winner, a Major winner and a beast on the 180s. If he can have a good week on the maximum’s he could have a good run. He has a tough opening match against Josh Rock (1-1 H2H) and should he win that he is 4-4 with Price and 5-5 with Gurney.

Smith is also 4-4 with Aspinall. Only Wade and Noppert have winning records against him. He looks worth a moderate bet at decent odds.

2024 World Matchplay Tip: 0.5 point e/w Ross Smith to win the 2024 World Matchplay @ 51.00 Skybet

3rd Quarter

The opening match of this quarter, MVG vs. Littler, could have a big bearing on the tournament. However, only really if Littler loses. Van Gerwen looks out of sorts and I’m not sure that a pre-tournament family holiday will have been enough to change that.

Littler had a couple of duff matches in last week’s Players Championships, but I’m not ruling him out on the back of that.

Dave Chisnall ticks a few boxes. He is in good form and is a recent tournament winner. He is a top 10 ranked player and they are the ones to have thrived in recent years. He has a losing record against his first round opponent, Ratajski, but the Pole is not in great form. If he gets past Ratajski, he meets the winner of Wright vs. Gilding, and he would be favourite to win that.

The massive hurdle would be vs. MVG or Littler in the quarter. MVG has a big winning record against Chizzy and while he has only played Littler once, he lost 5-10. The biggest negative is that Chisnall has never won a Major title. His form is good, but not good enough to think he can get that monkey off his back.

It has to be Littler to win the quarter and be just two matches away from his seventh title of the season. He is the only unseeded player that makes much sense.

2024 World Matchplay Tip: 1 point Luke Littler to win the 2024 World Matchplay @ 5.00 generally available

4th Quarter

The two top ten seeds in this quarter are Michael Smith and Rob Cross. Both are in decent form and both are Major winners. Cross is a former Matchplay champion (but the rest of his form here is poor), while Smith has a very tough first round match. He faces his old mentor, Gary Anderson.

Many will fancy the veteran Scot to get back to Major winning ways, given his power scoring, others won’t because of his recent record in Majors. Smith has no great record here. He was runner up in 2019 and semi-finalist in 2020, but more often than not he has gone out in the first or second round.

It is hard to fancy Dobey, Heta, Van Veen, Searle or Edhouse, and I will leave this quarter alone. Littler will be hard to stop if he gets to the semi-final in any case and this half of the draw looks his to lose.

-JamesPunt