2026 PDC WC Day 16 Preview

James Punt roared back to form on Day 15 with three winners from four bets. His 2026 PDC WC Day 16 previews and tips are below.

Afternoon Session

Today we see the final four third round matches, with the last two matches of the evening session, the first of the fourth round matches.

Justin Hood vs. Ryan Meikle

Hood won the best match of the tournament when beating Danny Noppert 3-2 in round two. Both players had ton plus averages and it went to the eleventh leg of the deciding set before the pair could be separated.

Ryan Meikle took Jonny Tata to a deciding set and won, coming back from being 0-2 down. Both averaged below 87 and it was in stark contrast to the Hood vs. Noppert match.

The bookies are expecting Hood to carry on where he left off. He is the 1.33 favourite, with Meikle 3.50. Hood has averaged 101.30 across his first two matches. That is at the ceiling of his best form. The last time he was playing that well was in PC25 back in August when he reached the fourth round with a tournament average of 101.24.

This is a stage event and that was on the floor. Hood says he is a better stage player than floor player, but he has only played in three TV majors. Maybe it’s true. Ryan Meikle has made the third round for the first time at Ally Pally and his card is safe for another year.

First Meeting

These two have never met before and looking at their stats, Hood is the better player, but not by the margin that the odds suggest. Hood’s 12 month average is 91.71, compared to Meikle’s 90.07. Meikle is a little better on the doubles and they both hit 180s @ 0.22 per leg.

Hood is the 1.33 favourite, Meikle 3.50. Based on their seasonal form, Meikle is the value bet. If Hood can continue to play like he has done in the first two rounds, he can justify his odds, but value they are not. Hood may have emptied his batteries in that epic with Noppert, he may suddenly realise he is playing for £60K and get a bit tight, who knows.

The only problem with opposing Hood, is that Meikle is just not very good. He is very average. His high notes are not very high. He did take a set off Littler here last year and in 2025 he has wins over MVG, Gary Anderson, Stephen Bunting and the GOAT, Joe Cullen. However, he is a journeyman and his Major form is poor.

I am tempted to oppose Hood, but I just can’t do it with Meikle. No bet.

2026 PDC WC Day 16 Tip: No Bet

Ricky Evans vs. Charlie Manby

Youth vs. experience. Ricky Evans is playing in his eleventh World Championship, but he has never reached a fourth round, losing all four of his previous third round matches. Will being loved up be enough to get him over that barrier? He did reach the quarter final of the Grand slam recently, and the UK Open semi-final last year, so he can have good runs, and this is a great opportunity for him.

Evans has won nine of his last twelve matches and his losses were to Wade, Noppert and Price, so no shame there. He got his revenge on Wade in round two. His averages have tended to be on the low 90s side, but he is grinding out wins.

Charlie Manby is one of the many bright young things of darts. This is his first Major Championship. He has won one Development tour title and will not have played in a long, set based format like this before.

It is one thing averaging 130 in a best of nine leg match, compared to winning a potential seven setter. He has averaged 90.75 across his wins against Menzies and Sevada. He is not the Second Coming, not yet anyway.

Evans is the 1.80 favourite, Manby 2.10. Evans will do for me.

2026 PDC WC Day 16 Tip: 1 point Ricky Evans to win @ 1.80 Betfred, Paddy Power Skybet

Nathan Aspinall vs. Kevin Doets

The Asp has won half of his six third round matches at Ally Pally. He has won eight of his last ten matches, losing only to Luke Littler and Luke Humphries. He hasn’t been great in his opening two matches but dropped just one set against Ilagan and won to nil against Leonard Gates.

Kevin Doets has had an equally easy passage to the third round. He beat Matthew Dennant 3-1 in round one and the Kenyan, David Munyua 3-0 in the second. Doets played his first third round match here last year and beat Ratajski 4-3, so he has to be respected.

Doets has won six of his last ten matches and is playing OK, hitting plenty of low to mid-90 averages. His major pedigree is not much to write home about, his fourth round here last year excepted.

Their H2H record is a bit of a surprise, 5-1 to Doets. They have met twice in 2025 and Doets won 6-1 and 6-2. The Dutchman has won their last five in a row, so he will not be in awe of Aspinall.

Aspinall is the 1.33 favourite, Doets 3.50. It is hard not to make Aspinall the favourite, but it is also hard to ignore that H2H record. Doets won his third-round match here last year against a tough operator and he will fancy his chances, which is half the battle.

2026 PDC WC Day 16 Tip: 1 point Kevin Doets to win +1.5 sets @ 2.25 with Paddy Power

Evening Session

Josh Rock vs. Callan Rydz

This is a very tricky one. I made a flippant remark about Rdyz’ mental fragility in matters of loss in the preview for his last match. I didn’t know that his Grandfather was ill in hospital at the time of the match, which he alluded to after beating Gurney 3-2.

It has transpired that his Grandfather passed away the following day. He was very close to him and his messaging on social media suggested that if the worst thing happened, he may well just pull out of the tournament. I suspect that there will be efforts made to persuade him to carry on, but his mental state is not going to be good.

Josh Rock will have to keep himself focused on himself, his game and his career. It would be easy to be distracted by Rydz’ situation, but this is a big match in Rock’s career. Easier said than done, of course.

These two met in the second round here in the 2023 Championship and Rock won that 3-0. However, he has lost his other two matches with Rydz. Rock is the 1.36 favourite with Rydz on the drift at 3.50.

Under normal circumstances this would have been a match of some interest but it is now not one to get involved in. No bet.

2026 PDC WC Day 16 Tip: No bet

James Hurrell vs. Ryan Searle

Ryan Searle has improved round by round and is yet to drop a set. He has won six of his last ten matches and he has clearly prepared well for the event, as his form coming into this was not great. Searle has played in three fourth round matches here and lost the lot.

Hurrell has also improved match by match so far and averaged 98.48 in his 4-3 win over Stephen Bunting. There was something not quite right with Bunting, but he didn’t go down without a fight. As with Searle, Hurrell has won six of his last ten matches.

These two have never met before but looking at their stats for the last 12 months, Searle is the heavier scorer, the better finisher, hits more 180s and the only thing he hasn’t done that Hurrell has is hit a 170 check out.

Searle is the 1.40 favourite, Hurrell 3.05. The odds look about right to me but I would expect to see a bit more two-way traffic this time.

2026 PDC WC Day 16 Tip: 1 point over 5.5 sets @ 1.80 with Bresbet

2026 PDC WC Day 16 Tip: 0.5 point Ryan Searle to win 4-2 @ 4.90 with Livescorebet

Luke Littler vs. Rob Cross

The market isn’t giving Cross much of a chance here, and neither am I. He has had an easy ride in his first three matches and his 94.11 against Heta yesterday was his best performance, and enough to see off a dispirited Aussie.

Cross has lost six of his last ten matches and while his form has picked up, he has just been lucky with the paucity of his opponents. That is not going to be the case here.

Littler has now played sixteen matches at Ally Pally and won fifteen. His tournament average is 101.93 and he is on a run of sixteen straight wins.

Littler is the 1.06 favourite and like all of his matches, it is very hard to find any value. Littler to win 4-0 is 2.50. Their H2H record is 13-3 to Littler, Cross did win their last match 6-4, but that was a floor match and Littler doesn’t care much about those.

2026 PDC WC Day 16 Tip: 1 point Luke Littler to win 4-0 @ 2.50 with Livescorebet

-JamesPunt