2025 WM Darts Sunday Evening Preview

James Punt was amongst the winners again this afternoon thanks to Goldfinger. His 2025 WM Darts Sunday Evening previews and tips are below.

Gary Anderson vs. Luke Woodhouse

We have lost one of the Lukes already, and Woodhouse is the 4.33 outsider in this one.

Anderson was runner up in the Baltic Sea Darts Open last weekend and he played well right up until the final where he fell in a heap, averaged 89.80 and lost 3-8 to Gerwyn Price. He has won six of his last ten matches and is playing well, but his consistency is not quite where it needs to be.

Luke Woodhouse has been struggling with his throw lately. He has lost seven of his last ten and in his last six he has hit four 90 averages.

H2H Close

Their H2H record is 3-2 to Anderson and in 2025 it is 1-1. They met twice on this year’s Euro Tour and in the first match, Woodhouse just couldn’t miss the doubles, averaged 100 and won 6-2. Anderson was a spectator for most of that one, but he got his revenge in the very next event with a 6-4 win in a match where Woodhouse was just 21% on the doubles.

Woodhouse made his Matchplay debut last year and lost 10-8 to Nathan Aspinall. Gary Anderson won the title in 2018 and was runner up in 2020 and has only lost four first round matches in sixteen appearances. Two of those came in the last three years.

This tournament has come just at the wrong time for Woodhouse. He has lost his form or picked up an injury, but whatever it is, he has been struggling recently. Anderson may not be quite at his best, but he can afford not to be with this draw.

2025 WM Darts Sunday Evening Tip: 1 point under 16.5 legs @ 1.73 with SpreadEx

Jonny Clayton vs. Martin Schindler

Jonny Clayton has been in great form, scoring heavily and consistently. In those last ten games he has hit six ton plus averages, and his lowest average was a 94.61. The wonder is that he lost three.

His record here is strange. He was runner up two years ago but has lost four first round matches and two second round matches.

Martin Schindler has lost five of his last ten matches and he has been very inconsistent. There are some good performances with five 95+ averages, but you just can’t be sure what you are going to get. His tournament record is three played and no matches won.

H2H Dead Level

Their H2H record is 6-6 and in 2025 2-2. They met on the Euro Tour twice and Schindler won both 6-1(both played in Germany) but Clayton won their only long format match 10-4 at the UK Open. Schindler won’t have the home crowd advantage tonight and there will be more Ferret fans in the audience.

Schindler is yet to win here but he has come close twice losing 8-10, the other was a 6-10 loss last year. Given Clayton’s form, he is the deserved 1.57 favourite. Schindler is 2.60 and harder to back given his variable form of late.

We are on Clayton outright and that might be enough here. With Schindler being hard to call on recent form, this could be close, or a relatively easy win for Clayton. I will take the chance that Schindler doesn’t find his A-game and Clayton carries on in the same vein as he has been playing.

2025 WM Darts Sunday Evening Tip: 1 point Jonny Clayton to win -2.5 legs @ 2.25 with Betfred

Luke Littler vs. Ryan Searle

With the early demise of Luke Humphries last night, Littler is now the 2.75 favourite to win the tournament. His first step is to beat Heavy Metal Ryan Searle.

Searle has been struggling for consistency. He has won six of his last ten matches and averaged everything from two 108 averages, to a 77. Looking at his matches in 2025, what I noticed is that he does his winning against the ‘lesser players’. He enjoys beating Cameron Menzies and Dirk van Duijvenbode, but most of his wins come against the journeymen.

Searle did win a Players Championship early in the season (which is now one of the rules of darts) and he got a nice draw in that, beating journeymen all the way to the final, where he beat Menzies, again.

When he faces the likes of Price, Clayton, Humphries, Anderson, MVG and Littler, he loses. Maybe it is a lack of self-belief, but whatever it is, it is a big limiting factor in terms of moving up the rankings.

Light Preparation

Luke Littler prepared for this event by not really playing a lot of tournaments, and even less ranking events. His last ranking event was the German Darts Grand Prix in April. He lost the semi-final of that to Gian van Veen and hasn’t played on the Euro Tour since.

Littler concentrated on the Premier League, in which he lost the final to Luke Humphries. Since the PL ended, he has played three World Series events, not making a final in any, and the World Cup, which England failed not only to win but they failed to win a match. If his name wasn’t Littler, I don’t think anyone would be looking at that record and saying the guy is the short priced favourite to win the Matchplay.

Lucky Draw

Littler has got lucky with the draw. Humphries drew the very dangerous Gian van Veen, who has beaten Littler this year, and Littler gets the mercurial Searle. Mercurial, but dodgy, especially against the big boys.

Will Searle be beaten before he steps up to the oche? The Market thinks so and makes Littler the 1.18 favourite. Searle is the 5.50 outsider. Their H2H record 3-0 to Littler and their only close match was an 8-7 in the final of PC1 last season. Searle averaged 111.71 and lost.

I was willing to oppose Littler in his opening match here, but I can’t do it with Ryan Searle. No bet.

2025 WM Darts Sunday Evening Tip: No Bet

Stephen Bunting vs. Ryan Joyce

I am big fan of Ryan Joyce and he has won me quite a bit of money over the years, but I only back him when he is good form. He is an underrated player and goes off at fancy odds in matches and tournaments. When in form, he can beat the big names, and win titles, on the floor at least.

However, when his A-game is not in play, he doesn’t pose the same threat. Not even close to it. His recent form sees Joyce losing five of his last ten matches and hitting six sub 90 averages. He is very likely to need his A game to compete with Bunting.

Bunting is a much-improved player these days. He has finally got the self-belief to go with the talent. The result is that he can win tournaments, not just have good runs. He has won seven of his last ten matches and hit six ton plus averages. He has won on the Pro Tour and the Euro Tour. Even a disastrous Premier League didn’t derail the rest of his season.

H2H

Their H2H record is 4-3 to Bunting and the last time they played was here in last year’s first round. Bunting won that 12-10. Before that he beat Joyce 3-0 at the 2024 World Championship. Joyce’s only win against Bunting on TV was a very short format 5-4 win the 2021 Grand Slam.

Bunting is the 1.30 favourite, Joyce 4.00. I can’t argue with those odds given their respective form. Joyce has played two and lost two in the Matchplay. Bunting has played ten and lost seven first round matches.

I expect Bunting to win, but with a tournament record which screams first round nerves (it went to added time last year) for Bunting, I am happy to sit this one out. No bet.

2025 WM Darts Sunday Evening Tip: No bet

-JamesPunt