2021 PDC World Matchplay Preview and Tips James Punt
2021 PDC World Matchplay Preview
A return to the Winter Gardens in Blackpool for one of the most prestigious major championships in world darts, the 2021 PDC World Matchplay. We will have a restricted crowd for the first two days but then it is a full house of guinea pigs.
The one little difference this tournament has is that matches have to be won by two clear legs with a limit of six extra legs before it becomes sudden death.
The field comprises the top sixteen players on the PDC O.O.M. and the top 16 players on the Pro Tour O.O.M. not already qualified. Below we will look at the prospects for every single player at the 2021 PDC World Matchplay.
2021 PDC World Matchplay: The Seeded Players
Gerwyn Price Tournament form – QF/2/1/1/1/1 Odds – 6.00
The reigning World Champion and world number 1. His tournament form is poor, losing in the first round for the last years. This will be the first time playing at the venue as World Champion and from public enemy number 1 to world number 1, it will be interesting to see what kind of reception he gets from a crowd that is up close and personal. His form in 2021 remains every bit as good as in 2020.
His win rate is 77.42% and since winning the World Championship he reached the semi-finals of the Masters and UK Open, won PC6 was runner up in PC8 and then tested positive for Covid 19. That ruled him out of the Premier League and the Super Series in Germany. He didn’t play any competitive darts for a month.
Price came back for Super Series 4 and reached the final of PC13, losing to Joe Cullen. Last week’s Super Series 5 saw him reach one semi-final, winning five matches with ton plus averages, but then lost to Stephen Bunting. There is plenty of big averages in Price’s game but also a little inconsistency.
Peter Wright – 1/2/1/SF/QF/RU/SF/QF/2 Odds – 10.00
The World number two Warmed up for this by winning the last players championship event of Super Series 5. He averaged 101 over the seven matches and gave MVG a bit of a doing in the final, winning 8-2. He said he had a new set of darts (what’s new?) which he loves, so no doubt he will be playing with a different set for this event.
There has been a bit of a pattern to Snakebites tournaments of late, starting slow and getting better. He won the last event of both Super Series 2, 4 and 5. He was disappointing in the Premier League, finishing 7th, went out early in the UK Open and World Championship but he has won three players championship titles and remains very much as one of the elite players.
Any thoughts that he is past it should be dismissed. With the return of the crowds, Snakebite will be back in his element, and he will want to get back to winning majors and getting the limelight he was denied after winning the World Championship before Covid shut everything down.
Michael van Gerwen – 2/2/1/1QF/SF/RU/W/W/QF/1/2/2 Odds – 6.00
MVG’s win drought continues. Beaten in the final of PC20, 2-8 by Peter Wright, you have to go back to the end of last November to find his last tournament win, the Players Championship Finals. His win rate in 2021 is 71%, which is very good, but that win rate has been in steady decline since 2016 when it was a remarkable 91%.
MVG has won this event twice but that was back in 2015 and 2016. He has not gone beyond the second round for the last three years. He is not gone at the game, he is averaging 98.57 in 2021, the fourth highest, but he is no longer the top dog. Van Gerwen remains an elite player but he is not the player he was a few years ago and that, combined by the rise in standards of his opponents, makes his life a lot harder. He is having to get used to defeat by more players, more often. His opponents are no longer beaten before a dart is thrown but what is worse is that his own confidence has taken a hit. He is missing too many crucial shots, the big points that decide matches.
I have no doubt that MVG will win more tournaments, more majors, but not at the rate he used to. He has been made the 5.50 favourite to win this event but why is he the favourite? Is he the best player in the world? No, not anymore. He demands respect and will have a decent chance of winning, but he is a poor value bet.
James Wade – RU/W/RU/QF/SF/RU/RU/SF/QF/RU/1/1/2/QF/2 Odds – 23.00
James Wade has an excellent record in this event, a six time finalist but only the one win. It has tailed off in recent years, but Wade is still an elite player. He is ranked number 4 on the O.O.M. and while flatters him, he is a very consistent player. He lacks the ultimate fire power of the very top players, but he always has.
The Machine remains a master finisher and a very tough opponent. He probably doesn’t win as many titles as he could but two major finals in the last two years shows what is capable of. Wade won the first major of this year, the UK Open, and was sixth in the Premier League. He has won 70% of his matches this season and was a semi-finalist in the last players championship event last week.
Rob Cross – 2/2/W/1 Odds – 34.00
The champion two years ago and that means Cross is defending £150000 in ranking money. His fifth place in the rankings does not reflect his real form. His win rate in 2021 is 57%, well shy of the very top players. He made one televised final in 2020, the World Series of Darts, but he has not won a tournament since 2019.
He is showing some signs of improvement, but he remains well shy of the player he was in 2017 – 2019. Voltage is averaging 95.98 for all matches in 2021 which means there are nineteen players scoring better. Cross has lost five of his last ten matches and with the added pressure of defending the winners prize money, it is hard to see him winning this.
Gary Anderson – 2/2/1/1/2/SF/2/SF/2/W/2/RU Odds – 26.00
Gary Anderson was never a big fan of this event, or Blackpool, until he won it in 2018. He has been a finalist in two of the last three, but it will be interesting to see how a return to Blackpool will affect his delicate fettle.
Anderson has not won a title since the first players championship in 2020. However, he was runner up the World Championship and targets these big events. He has been practicing with Ryan Searle recently and that has certainly sharpened up Searles game. He has won six of his last ten matches but his win rate in 2021 is 56%, down from 68% in 2020. Anderson can never be written off but odds of 26.00 are not great value.
Michael Smith – 1/2/1/2/1/2/RU/SF Odds – 34.00
Michael Smith’s win rate in 2021 is a very healthy 73%, his highest win rate ever. He has won eight of his last ten matches and reached two quarter finals in the recent Super Series 5.
Smith’s tournament record started of like a roadie testing a mike, but in the last two years he has finished runner up and a semi-finalist.
We know that Smith is one of the most talented players there is but his record in the big tournaments is one of close but no cigars. No cigars but a whole heap of scar tissue.
His career has been blighted by missing doubles to win TV tournaments and it gets harder with every near miss. He isn’t happy to ‘do a Chisnall’ and just cruise through life, winning a lot of money, but never a major. Smith really wants to win, and it is the frustration of not quite getting it done which becomes a vicious circus.
I can see Smith having another good run, but actually winning? Probably not.
Dimitri van den Bergh – W Odds – 13.00
The defending champion will be making his debut at the Winter Gardens. The tournament was played behind closed doors last year and Dimitri won on his debut. If he fails to defend in the 2021 PDC World Matchplay, no doubt critics will say that he only won it because it was behind closed doors. I doubt it. Van den Bergh is a classy player with a lot of big stage experience, and he likes a crowd.
Van den Bergh had a breakthrough year last year, but he is actually playing better in 2021. Being fully fit must help and his win rate is up to 62.5% from 53% in 2020. He is averaging 97.93 in 2021, the fifth highest on tour.
Dimitri had a good warm up in Super Series 5, reaching a final and semi-final, winning fourteen of his nineteen matches. Van den Bergh is a top player and still improving. He has to enter the equation for every major as he has become hard to beat.
Dave Chisnall – 1/1/QF/QF/QF/QF/2/QF/1/1 Odds – 41.00
Very much an older version of Michael Smith, only without the stylish throw. Chisnall has many different throws which might be his problem. However, that hasn’t stopped him making a very good living from the game.
Chizzy’s win rate in 2021 is 60%, very much in line with four of the last five years. It reached 69.5% in 2019, when he last won any titles and was runner up in another major, the World Grand Prix. He is a five-time quarter finalist in this event and that may be the limit of his chances this year.
Jose de Sousa – Debut Odds – 9.00
The Special One is arguably the best player in the world on recent form. He is the highest scoring player on tour, averaging 99.52 in 2021. He has won three players championship titles so far this year and won his first major, the Grand Slam of Darts, late last year. His win rate in 2021 is 73%, slightly up on 2020, and he was runner up in his debut Premier League appearance.
Many say that he will not have experienced anything like the atmosphere of a World Matchplay in Blackpool which is fair comment, but he must be the calmest player in darts. He is a walking definition of unflappable. Genuine contender.
Nathan Aspinall – 1/1 Odds – 26.00
Aspinall’s stock is falling at the moment. His win rate has dropped from 70% last year to 59% in 2021. He has won six of his last ten matches and is averaging 95.5 this year. He hasn’t fallen off the radar, but he missed most of Super Series 4 after failing his Covid 19 test and his form at Super Series 5 was hit and miss, winning seven of his eleven matches. His standard was better on the final day, averaging around the ton in his three matches.
Aspinall had said that he was being distracted by off the oche matters, something to do with moving house, and he does seem to be prone to his life outside darts really affecting his game. He needs to be in the right frame of mind to play his best and maybe he is not quite there at the moment. He has failed to progress past the first round in his previous two Matchplay’s. The Asp has drawn Merv King in the first round and that is a tough draw.
Glen Durrant – SF/SF Odds – 301.00
If Aspinall hasn’t fallen off the radar, Durrant certainly has. Officially the World number 12, the reality is that he would struggle on the Challenge Tour right now. The FDI ranking’s, more reflective of recent form rather than prizemoney won over the last two years, see Durrant ranked at just 193rd. His win rate in 2019 was 71.5%, in 2021 it is 29%
Durrant won just one match at Super Series 5, beating a rank out of form Joe Cullen 6-4. Duzza averaged just 83.93 in that match, and you have to go back 25 matches to find the last time Durrant averaged over 90, that is four months ago. This not a slump in form, it is a complete absence of form. He was a shadow of his former self after falling ill with Covid last year, but he is getting worse, not better.
I am not a doctor, but long Covid is a thing with some unexpected symptoms. Maybe his hand eye co-ordination is not what it was. Whatever it is, it has destroyed his confidence and players can’t cope at this level if their confidence is shot.
Duzza has reached the semi-final in his two Matchplay appearances and he particularly enjoyed his debut in Blackpool in 2019, but such is lack of form, that even a positive mental association is unlikely to kick start his game.
Krzysztof Ratajski – 2/QF Odds – 41.00
Another player whose form coming into this event is a bit underwhelming. He is now the World number 13, but his FDI ranking is a more realistic 27. His win rate in 2021 is 57% down from 70% last year and a peak of 77% in 2018. He has won five of his last ten matches and while there are some good performances in there (a 108 average in one match last week) he is just losing too many matches, and quite a few 5-6, which suggests a lack of confidence.
He needs a good run somewhere to bring his game back to the boil, rather than just simmering. The Polish Eagle has drawn Brendan Dolan in the first round and that is a very tough draw.
Daryl Gurney – 1/SF/2/SF/2 Odds – 81.00
Superchin is in much the same boat as Ratajski. Gurney has won seven of his last ten matches and he got plenty of matches under his belt at Super Series 5 and the three Euro Tour qualifiers on the Friday. However, the fact that he is now having to play in the qualifiers for the Euro Tour tells you that his pro tour form in 2021 has been poor. Gurney is averaging 94.10 this year and his win rate is 59%.
The win rate is much in line with the last three years but some way off his peak of 71% in 2017. There are good performances in his game but not the consistency he needs to get back to contending for titles. He is a player who likes to play in everything, and it helps to get him match fit. With no Euro tour so far in 2021 and missing out on the Premier League, Daryl maybe just isn’t getting the number of matches he needs to be at his best.
Twice a Matchplay semi-finalist shows he can handle the atmosphere, but he is defending £50000 in ranking prize money. He probably needs to reach the quarter finals in order to maintain his top 16 ranking. That is a bit of added pressure he could do without. His odds are starting to look more attractive and when the penny does drop, he could be a value bet.
Joe Cullen – 1/1/1QF/1/2 Odds – 51.00
A week ago, getting 51.00 about Joe Cullen for this would have put him near the top of any shortlist of possible winners. However, he withdrew from Super Series 5 after three days of very poor darts. Three matches, three defeats and all sub 89 averages. He has now lost his last five matches and from being in the form of his life (a career best win rate of 74% in 2021) he has lost the plot. The question is, is this just a blip or a proper downturn?
Cullen said on Twitter that he had wanted to quit after the first two days of Super Series 5 but had given it another go on Wednesday, with the same result. He said that he was pulling out for personal reasons and that ‘You can’t play at this level if your head is elsewhere!’
It will be a real shame if something has derailed his game just before a major championship just when he was having a great season, winning two players championship titles and he had been leading the pro tour O.O.M. before last week.
Cullen has never reached the final of a major tournament, but this looked like the year he was ready make the to step up. Last week’s form has just taken the shine of his chances.
Jonny Clayton – 1/1/1 Odds – 15.00
The Premier League winner, which came as no surprise to readers of this blog. Clayton must be the richest player to have made the top 16. The Ferret has picked up £391k in prizemoney in 2021 but £310k is non ranking, hence he has just crept into the top 16. If we consider the current form based FDI rankings, Clayton is a more realistic fifth highest ranked player.
Clayton hasn’t won a title since winning the Premier League, but he continues to play well and win a lot of matches. His 2021 win rate is 78%, higher than anyone else in the field (Price next best on 77%) and he is averaging 99.19 this year. His form at last weeks Super Series event was good, winning ten matches with a lowest average of 93.77 and a high of 104.94.
Clayton remains very hard to beat until he has problems with his doubles. When his checkout % gets to about 30% or below, he generally loses the match and was costing him the chance to get beyond his board finals last week.
The Ferret is not quite at the same level of form that he was going into the Premier League. It is hard to play at that level for a sustained period of time and Clayton has been the best or very near the best player in the world for many months.
The fact that he is the sixteenth seed is his biggest problem. It means he gets a shitty draw. He faces Dirk van Duijvenbode in the opening round and then, very likely, his World Cup teammate, Gerwyn Price in the second. Those are two seriously good opponents to overcome just to reach the quarter final.
2021 PDC World Matchplay: Non Seeded Players
Brendan Dolan – 1/2/1/2/2/1 Odds – 67.00
Arguably in the best form of his life, Dolan is a serious contender these days. He remains underestimated and unfashionable and is priced accordingly. His form on the pro tour is excellent, currently ranked 8th, winning PC 5 and was runner up to Ross Smith in last weeks PC 19. His win rate in 2021 is 73% and only three players in this field can better that.
The History Maker’s average in 2021 is 96.33 and he doesn’t just grind out results anymore, he throws big bombs, and it is not unusual to see him beating top players, such as his 109 average when beating Michael Smith 6-3 in the quarter final of PC19 last week. He is a different beast these days. Underestimate him at your peril.
Devon Petersen – Debut. Odds – 101.00
Dancing Devon Petersen is not quite at the same level as when he landed us a nice 67.00 winner at the German Darts Championship last September. His win rate this year has dropped from 62% to 52% in 2021 and he is averaging 92.08.
Petersen has won just five of his last ten matches and his form at Super Series 5 was distinctly average, winning just five matches a scoring quite poorly. You have to go back to March to find his last ton plus average. His run of great form last year was when he was hitting a lot of 180’s but he is now ranked 44th for 180’s per leg. He faces the defending Champion, Dancing Dimitri van den Bergh, in the first round, so expect some shapes being thrown before the darts are.
Damon Heta – Debut. Odds – 81.00
Heta has been tipped for greatness and I was one of them tipping him. He has become expensive to follow however. His scoring remains good, but he just is not putting many good runs together, not winning as many matches as he probably should. The Heat is averaging 96.44 in 2021, the tenth highest average on the tour. He reached the final of PC4 back in March but since then there has been just one quarter final appearance, a poor return on his talent.
He has won five of his last ten matches and while he hit four ton plus averages last week, he only won five matches and reaching the top 16 once was his best result. His scoring power makes him a dangerous opponent and MVG will have to be ready to hit the ground running in their first round match, but it is hard to see Heta having a long run given his recent form.
Danny Noppert – 1/2 Odds – 126.00
Much the same can be said about Danny Noppert. He has been scoring very well recently, is averaging 96.13 in 2021, has a win rate of 68% but he just can’t make the breakthrough and win a title. He has lost two players championship semi-finals this season and he just finds the final few hurdles too difficult.
Noppert won twelve matches in Super Series 5 last week, picked up more decent ranking money but reached just one quarter final. He hit eight ton plus averages so there is nothing wrong with his game, but the runs should be longer, he should be contending for wins. He is a very good player, in good form, but can I see him making a semi-final? No.
Dirk van Duijvenbode – Debut. Odds – 51.00
A player who has made great strides over the last couple of years. He made the final of the World Grand Prix last year and three more major quarter finals, including the World Championship. A player who relies on his power scoring to win matches, he is averaging 96 in 2021 and has had plenty of good runs in players championship events. His win rate is an impressive 70% and he won PC 11, and was runner up in PC12 back in April but since then it must be said his scoring has tailed off. He averaged just 91.77 at last weeks Super Series 5, winning just three matches.
He needs to find his April form if he hopes to have another good run in a major. The Aubergenius has the ability to go deep, but his most recent form is not inspiring.
Ross Smith – Debut. Odds – 101.00
Smudger Smith finally won his first senior PDC title last week, beating Brendan Dolan in the final of PC19. He is a bit of a streaky player, very high scoring when he’s in form and with eleven matches won last week, including beating Gerwyn Price and Gary Anderson (twice), Smith will be feeling confident.
His overall win rate in 2021 is 58% and that is very much in line with his records since 2018, each year seeing a 58% win rate. It is probably as good as he will get. He reached the quarter final of the 2018 UK Open, his best run at a major championship. Smith can be a disrupter. He has a decent draw, facing an inconsistent Rob Cross in the first round and if he won that, the winner of the Rydz vs. Durrant match (so, Rydz then). I guess he could well make the quarter finals but then things would get tougher.
Mensur Suljovic – 1/QF/2/QF/RU/2/2 Odds – 151.00
It has been so long since Suljovic has played, I had to check how to spell his name. I have no idea why he has stopped playing pro tour events but whatever the reason, we have not seen Mensur throw a dart since the end of April. That was Super Series 3 and while he won six matches, his scoring was quite poor.
Suljovic’s last titles came back in 2019 and he has been steadily slipping down the rankings since then. He is a bit of a wild card, an unknown quantity, but it would take a huge leap of faith to think that the Austrian can come back after a two and half month layoff and be competitive.
Shortly after writing this, Mensur withdrew from the tournament citing medical reasons.
Stephen Bunting – 2/1/1/1/1/QF Odds – 81.00
Stephen Bunting finally got back in the winners enclosure after winning PC 17 last week. He got some fairly lightweight opponents in the early rounds but then had to beat Barney, Price and Van den Bergh to get over the line. He made the quarter final the following day and had reached the semi-final of PC 15 last month, so he has been winning plenty of matches lately (57% in 2021).
Reaching the semi-final of this years World Championship was huge for Bunting and mentally he is in a far better place than for some time. He will fancy his chances against Gary Anderson in the first round and Bunting is something of a dark horse for the title, or at least a good run. Winning eleven matches in a row last week will have done his confidence the world of good at just the right time.
Merv King – QF/1/SF/1/1/1/1/2/1QF/1/1/QF Odds – 81.00
He may be 55 years old, but Merv King remains a fully competitive player. He has reached two televised tournament finals in the last nine months, the 2020 Players Championship Finals where he lost 10-11 to MVG and the 2021 Masters, losing 8-11 to Jonny Clayton. His win rate this year is 65% and while he has not won a title since 2018 and never won a televised major, clearly he is not without a chance.
Luke Humphries – Debut. Odds 67.00
Another dieting darter. How many darts players can you remember losing a lot of weight….and getting better at playing darts? Maybe Ron Meulenkamp, but not many more. Perhaps Humphries can buck that trend. He is still young and being overweight is not so ingrained in his throw as it is with John Henderson for example.
Humphries has improved his win rate from 61% in 2020 to 69% this year. He was runner up in PC 16 a month ago and has won seven of his last ten matches. He still hasn’t won at senior level but was runner up in this years UK Open, so he is a contender. Humphries faces James Wade in the first round and he thrashed Wade 6-1 last week. Worth considering.
Gabriel Clemens – 2 Odds – 101.00
The German Giant hit the headlines when hitting a nine darter last week. What was more interesting is that he had missed a dart for a nine darter in the previous leg, so he was running hot in that match. Clemens is yet to win a PDC title but he is a regular at the last 16 stage of most majors, including this years World Championship and UK Open.
Clemens win rate in 2021 is 67% and he has won seven of his last ten matches. He has been close to winning on the pro tour, reached a World Series of Darts final and he is a very good player. However, he has drawn Jose de Sousa in the first round and the Special one is 4-1 up in their H2H’s. That part of the draw is very tough and I am not sure he has the consistency to steer his way through.
Vincent van der Voort – 1/QF/2/2/1/1/1/1/1/QF Odds 201.00
A quarter finalist in last years behind closed doors event, Van der Voort is very much the journeyman pro these days. He still picks up decent cheques and has a respectable win rate of 63%. However, he was never a prolific winner and is unlikely to start now. He may win a match or two, as he did last year, beating Dave Chisnall in the first round and Daryl Gurney in the second before losing narrowly to Glen Durrant in the quarters. It is interesting that he faces Chisnall in the first round again this season.
Ryan Searle – Debut. Odds – 81.00
Another of this year’s debutants, Searle is an improving player, a very heavy scorer and benefiting from being Gary Anderson’s practice partner. Searle is averaging 95.37 in 2021 with a win rate of 66%. He reached the last 16 in the World Championship and has had a few good runs in Players Championship events. He was runner up to De Sousa in PC 15 a month ago and reached the semi-final of PC18 last week, again losing to De Sousa and again in the deciding leg.
Searle has the scoring power to live with the big boys and he will need to be at his best to get out of the third quarter which looks a very tough part of the draw and includes Jose De Sousa.
Ian White – 2/2/2/QF/2/1/2/2/1 Odds – 101.00
2021 is looking like a bad season for Ian White. His win rate has dropped to 49% and only Glen Durrant has a lower rate than that. White has been a steady mid to high 60% man for the previous nine years, so this is a significant loss of form. He has lost six of his last ten matches and even when he scores well, he is losing. On last three occasions when he has hit a ton plus average, he still lost the match. His confidence is taking a hit and like most years in this event it is hard to see him win more than one match, if that.
Callan Rydz – Debut. Odds – 101.00
Rydz won PC 2 back in February and a run to the semi-final of PC16 last month was enough to get him into this event and pick up a minimum of £10k. He is still only 23 years old and learning the job. His talent is well regarded but he lacks big event experience. He played in last years Players Championship finals and reached the last sixteen after beating an out of sorts Daryl Gurney, Ryan Searle, before taking Peter Wright to a deciding leg.
He reached the third round at the UK Open, beating Wattimena and Ross Smith. Those events were behind closed doors, and this will be Rydz first experience of a big, noisy crowd. However, he plays the completely out of form Glen Durrant in the first round and he could not have got a better draw. If he wins that match, and he should, he is free rolling and a player under no pressure is a dangerous player.
Chris Dobey – 1. Odds – 81.00
Ironically just as Dobey’s annual win rate dropped to 55% from 62% last year, he finally picked up his first senior PDC title, winning PC 18 last week. It was a deserved win and Dobey had been playing well for a while but not getting his just rewards. It is fair to say that he needs to show more consistency if he is to add to more titles to his CV. There must have been a bit of mental let down after his win as he lost five of his following nine matches.
Being in the ‘quarter of death’ limits his chances but it will be interesting to see if that first title kick starts his career for the rest of the season.
Jermaine Wattimena – 1/1/1 Odds – 151.00
The Machine Gun gets the place vacated by Mensur Suljovic’s withdrawal. He has played in the tournament three times and failed to go beyond the first round. Wattimena is more likely to win Slimmer of the year than a darts tournament. He has been shedding the pounds and his game is getting worse. His best annual win rate was 67% in 2018 but that has fallen every year since and is now at just 51%.
Wattimena does have his moments, but they are fleeting and increasingly so. He faces Gerwyn Price in the first round and another first round exit looks very likely.
2021 PDC World Matchplay Ante Post Selections
Professional darts has never been more competitive. The standard of play has never been better and there are more players who are capable of winning major titles. Gone are the days of Phil Taylor dominating the sport or Michael van Gerwen winning 91% of his matches. We still have a core of elite players but even those players on the fringe of elite level are capable of beating the top players and making the outcome of tournaments harder to predict. But the odds of reward are better when making the correct selections.
There are twelve players in the field who already have won at least one major and the nature of the qualifying process for this event means that there are no easy matches. Most of the players coming through via the pro tour are there because they are in decent form.
No Clear Number One
Who the best player in the world is right now is open for debate. Officially it is Gerwyn Price and as the number 1 ranked player and World Champion, he has fair claim to the title. He doesn’t have the best win rate on the tour however. That honour goes to Jonny Clayton winning 78% of his matches.
That win rate has helped him win The Masters, the Premier League and two players championship titles in 2021. He too has claims for being called the best player in the world right now. In terms of scoring, there is one player who is outscoring Price and Clayton. Jose de Sousa is averaging 99.52 in 2021 compared to 99.30 for Price and 99.19 for Clayton.
Between those three players they have won nine tournaments in 2021 they are, in my humble opinion, the three big beasts in the darting jungle right now. Not only have they been winning tournaments, but they have been runners up six times, all three, two time runners up.
Other players who are scoring well and winning titles in 2021 are Dimitri van den Bergh, Peter Wright, Joe Cullen, Michael Smith, Brendan Dolan, Dirk van Duijvenbode, Stephen Bunting, Ross Smith and James Wade. An honourable mention has to go to Luke Humphries who has been a runner up in four tournaments this season, including the UK Open.
2021 PDC World Matchplay draw Is Crucial
The draw is a hugely important factor and looking at it quarter by quarter may help with making the final selections.
The first quarter is packed with potential winners. Gerwyn Price, Jonny Clayton, Dimitri van den Bergh and Dirk van Duijvenbode have the potential to go all the way. Duijvenbode’s most recent form has taken a dip and he may be coming into this not at his best. Price has good H2H form against Clayton (10-5) and Van den Bergh (8-3) and while missing the Premier League and one of the Super Series events means he missed a lot of matches, his scoring last week was still excellent with eleven of his eighteen matches seeing ton plus averages.
What is most impressive is Price’s record in majors since 2018. He won his first major title, the Grand Slam of Darts in 2018 and since then he has added a second Grand Slam in 2019, was runner up in the 2019 European Championships and Players Championship finals, won the 2020 World Grand Prix and World Series of Darts Finals and topped that by winning the 2021 World Championship. He is the man for the big occasions. His record in this event is poor, going out in the first round for the last four years, but he looks the most likely player to come through a very tough quarter.
Tricky Second Quarter
The second quarter is another tricky one. James Wade, the six time finalist here is joined by live outsiders, Brendan Dolan and Luke Humphries, past champion Rob Cross and the Polish Eagle, Krzysztof Ratajski. The Wade vs. Humphries first round clash is key. Wade is 3-2 in the H2H’s but they played last week in PC19 and Humphries won 6-1, that recent win will give him a lot of confidence.
The in form Brendan Dolan faces Ratajski in the first round. Ratajski is 2-0 in their H2H’s but Dolan has been in better form this season. The Polish eagle has lost five of his last ten matches but was scoring well in Super Series 5, but so was Dolan.
If both Dolan and Humphries win their first round matches, they meet in the second round. It is disappointing when two big priced outsiders you fancy are scheduled to meet so early.
Stacked Third Quarter
The third quarter has no less than five of my long list selections in it. De Sousa, Wright, Cullen, Dobey and Michael Smith. With Cullen’s head not being in the right place last week, he is passed over. Dobey’s modest win rate of 55% is just enough to cross him out, Smith’s mental fragility at the business end of majors ditto.
Which leaves De Sousa and Wright. Their H2H record is close 4-1-3 to De Sousa and the Special One has been the more consistent player in 2021, but there is very little in it. A very hard quarter to work out, and that is before we consider the likes of Ryan Searle, Danny Noppert and Gabriel Clemens who are all in the third quarter.
Fourth Quarter Looks Open
The fourth quarter in the 2021 PDC World Matchplay looks fairly open. Michael van Gerwen is the top seed, joined by Daryl Gurney, Gary Anderson and Nathan Aspinall as the other seeds. Despite being in a title drought, Van Gerwen is still favourite to come through the quarter. That said, his confidence is not at its best and he is not the good thing he once was, but he has got lucky with the draw.
The other seeds are not in great form and who knows, we might get recent winner Stephen Bunting sneaking through although his record vs. MVG is dire. I really don’t fancy anyone in Q4 to win the title but MVG should progress to the semi-finals but he is poor value to do so.
It is not a good draw for my fancied players. De Sousa and Wright are in the same quarter, Dolan and Humphries are in the same quarter and Price, Clayton and Van den Bergh are also in the same quarter. However, decisions have to be made.
