Thursday PDC World Darts Championship Preview

Finally, Dartsmas is officially here. We’ve got four games to look forward to tonight, including TeamTXODDS’ Nathan Rafferty vs Jermaine Wattimena. James Punt has already penned outright winner and side market previews. He has also previewed the first three of tonight’s matches, get his Thursday PDC World Darts Championship tips below.

Mickey Mansell vs. Ben Robb

Mansell is playing in his seventh World Championship, but his visits to the Palace have been brief. He has won just a single match and he is defending his £15k from two years ago when he beat Haupai Puha 3-0. He averaged 93.9 in that match, his highest average at Ally Pally. Mansell has lost three matches 0-3 and the other two 1-3. Mansell’s seasonal average is 91.9 and his win rate 52%.

Robb is making his third appearance in the World Championship, and he is yet to win a match with 0-3 and 1-3 defeats. His TV form is limited to World Series events, the World Cup and World Championships. His TV record is played seven, won one, a 6-4 win over Simon Whitlock in a World Series match in 2019. Robb’s seasonal average is 86.4 and a win rate of just 44%.

Mansell More Experienced

This is hardly a match to get too excited about. Mansell is the better player, the more experienced player, but his TV form is played 27 and won just 6. He got into some hot water here in 2018 when he lost 1-3 to Jim Long and averaged just 74.4. He was deemed by the DRA to have not played to the best of his abilities and fined.

Mansell is the 1.67 favourite with Robb 2.38, and the money has been coming for Mansell. Neither player makes any appeal but just to get some interest in the opening match, I’ll have a small bet in the 180s market. Neither are prolific maximum hitters with Mansell’s 180 per leg rate being 20%, Robb’s 19%.

Thursday PDC World Darts Championship tips: 0.5 point Most 180s a draw @ 5.50 with SportingIndex, Hills, Unibet

Keane Barry vs. Grant Sampson

The first complete mismatch of the World Championship. Barry may still be young enough to play on the Development Tour, but he has been around for a few years and made his Ally Pally debut in 2019. He has played four matches and won one, beating Roydon Lam 3-2 before taking Jonny Clayton to a deciding set in the second round.

Barry is not in great form, losing six of his last ten, but he showed some good form in the recent Players Championship finals, reaching the third round, beating Adrian Lewis and Andrew Gilding. His seasonal average is only 91.44 but that includes his development tour matches. On the pro tour he averages 92.6 and he should be around that kind of level.

African Qualifier

Sampson is the African representative and takes the place of the perennial Devon Petersen, who he beat in the PDC African qualifier. That is the sum of my knowledge on Sampson. He isn’t a professional and is making his TV debut. The last African qualifier was Cameron Carolissen in the 2021 championship. He got a bye into the second round after a covid withdrawal, and he took a set off Danny Noppert, despite averaging just 82.

This should be a straightforward 3-0 victory for Keane Barry, unless Sampson is a well kept secret. Barry is the 1.11 favourite, Sampson 10.00.

Thursday PDC World Darts Championship tips: 1 point Keane Barry to win 3-0 @ 1.67 with Hills, Betfred

Jermaine Wattimena vs. Nathan Rafferty

It is a shame for Rafferty that he will be facing a Wattimena who has hit some decent form. The Dutchman has won seven of his last ten matches and reached the second round at the Grand Slam. Consistency is not a strong point though and Rafferty can take some comfort in that in his last five matches, Wattimena lost three and had three sub 90 averages.

Rafferty has lost six of his last ten matches but in his defence, he has faced very tough opposition. He lost to Clayton, Price, Beaton, MVG, Ross Smith and Luke Humphries and Wattimena should be a less severe test, especially if he puts in one of his sub 90 performances.

This will be Rafferty’s World Championship debut while Wattimena has played in seven and his record is played 11 and won 3.

The market has Wattimena as the 1.57 favourite and Rafferty the 2.50 outsider. They have not met before so no H2H form, but Rafferty makes enough appeal at the odds.

Thursday PDC World Darts Championship tips: 1 point Nathan Rafferty to win @ 2.50 generally available

The last match of the night sees the winner of the Mansell vs. Robb match facing Peter Wright. Wright has won ten of his thirteen opening matches here, six of them 3-0, three 3-1 and one 3-2. I would wager that whoever he faces, a 3-0 scoreline is the most likely outcome.

-JamesPunt