2024 WC Darts Thursday Preview & Tips – JP
2024 WC Darts Thursday Preview & Tips
An ‘under the weather’ Peter Wright used most of his energy for his walk on. Unfortunately, his darts were a lot less impressive and he failed to even win one set. That cost us our only bet of the evening session but James Punt is looking to bounce back immediately. Check out his 2024 WC Darts Thursday match previews and tips below.
Mickey Mansell vs. Zong Xaiochen
The search for a good Chinese player has been a long one. Is Zong the one?
The Pandaman, yes, really, has been here before. He lost a preliminary match in 2018 and lost a first round match in 2020. However, he did take Kyle Anderson to a deciding set. He has played in World Cups and World Series events so at least he has some big stage experience.
Xaiochen won the Chinese Premier League as the defending champion, averaging 102 in one match. However, his seasonal average is just 83.78. He has also won twice on this year’s Asian Tour and we have seen some good performances from players coming off that tour already. Zong does look like the best Chinese player ever, but that isn’t saying much.
Veteran
Mickey Mansell is a veteran of seven previous World Championships and his best result is to reach the second round on his last two visits. Both his wins came against Kiwi qualifiers and both were the only two 90+averages he has hit at the Ally Pally.
Mansell’s most recent form sees five wins from his last ten matches. He reached the semi-final of PC28 at the end of October but he is the very embodiment of a journeyman pro.
The Northern Irishman wins enough ranking money to keep his tour card (this is his thirteenth year on tour), but he has only won a single title in his career. He has improved his seasonal average by a point in 2023 but his win rate is just 50%.
Slow Pace
We know all about Mansell. He’ll likely average around 90, playing at a snail’s pace and he’ll try to grind out a win. Zong is harder to call. His A-game can beat Mansell but his normal game won’t. He will need to go for it and try not to be put off by Mansell’s pace of play. Zong doesn’t look to be a fast player himself so he should be OK.
Mansell is the 1.20 fav with Zong being backed and he is now into 5.50. I can understand why. The players coming off the Asian Tour have impressed and if Zong is a two time winner, he too could put in an above average performance.
Mansell has had some shockers here, and he even got a fine one year for not playing to the best of his abilities. That is as close to being accused of match fixing as you can get.
2024 WC Darts Thursday: 1 point Zong Xiaochen to win + 1.5 sets @ 3.25 with Ladbrokes
Luke Woodhouse vs. Barry van Peer
Woodhouse is having his best ever season, winning over £113,000, reaching a first Major quarter final last month and reaching his first Pro Tour final. This will be his fifth World Championship and he has won four of his eight matches, and three of his four first round matches.
Barry van Peer doesn’t have a tour card and has never played in a World Championship. He won his place via the Challenge Tour OOM. That also got him into this year’s Grand Slam where he lost all three matches, but he did manage to take Chris Dobey to a decider.
Van Peer plays a lot of darts. The Challenge Tour, Modus Super Series, WDF events, European Tour events and some Players Championships. He has won four Challenge tour titles this season, won a Modus title and two WDF titles, so he is used to winning.
Solid Seasons
Like Woodhouse, Van Peer is having his most successful season but his seasonal average is just 89.7, compared to 92.87 for Woodhouse.
His most recent form is poor, losing eight of his last ten events and he does tend to struggle when playing tour card holders. His last ten matches on the Pro Tour produced just one win, and that was against Owen Bates, who also has no tour card.
These two have met twice and Woodhouse won both with a 6-1 win way back in 2016 and a 6-2 win this October.
I’ll take Woodhouse to make it three. He is only a 1.40 shot, so the handicap it is.
2024 WC Darts Thursday: 1 point Luke Woodhouse -1.5 sets to win @ 1.75 with Fitzdares
Madars Razma vs. Mike de Decker
De Decker won his first round match vs. Dragutin Horvat 3-0. It was a decent performance in the end but he started slowly and was lucky that Horvat was quite poor, OK, very poor.
It was a welcome win as De Decker had been losing a lot of matches recently and that win makes it just four wins from his last ten. De Decker has gone out at this stage for the last two years (both 0-3) and he has never made the third round.
Poor Campaign
Razma has not had a good end of season, well not a great season. His win rate has dropped to just 48% from 61% in 2022. He has lost seven of his last ten matches and his confidence is low. He has only won four of his last seventeen matches, so it is not just a dip in form, it is a collapse.
Like De Decker, Razma has never reached the third round here. He had the misfortune to face Gary Anderson in the two second round matches he has played in and he lost both 1-3. This is his first time as a seeded player and it looks like he may well not be able to take advantage.
Their H2H record extends to just one match in 2020 which Razma won 6-5.
De Decker is the 1.62 favourite with Razma 2.38. I’ll have to take De Decker here.
2024 WC Darts Thursday: 1 point Mike de Decker to win @ 1.62 generally available
Rob Cross vs. Thibault Tricole
The Frenchman rode his luck to beat Mario Vandenbogaerde 3-1 in the first round. It was a match of missed doubles by the Belgian as he had a checkout rate of just 26% and missed 25 doubles. If he had just been a little better on the outer ring, he would have won the match with ease.
Tricole only averaged 85 and he had a very healthy 46% checkout rate, so his scoring was poor.
I don’t think Rob Cross will have lost any sleep after watching that match. Voltage is just 1.11 to win and as we have backed him to win the quarter there is no need to get involved here. No bet.
