2025 PDC WC Monday Preview & Tips

A host of missed doubles cost Joe Comito (and us) on opening night. Hopefully James Punt can get off the mark this afternoon at the Ally Pally. You can check out his 2025 PDC WC Monday preview and tips below.

Wesley Plaisier vs. Ryusei Azemoto

Big Wes is the 1.18 favourite to beat Japanese debutant Azemoto. The Japanese is one of the four Asian Tour qualifiers, and we know they can be dangerous. His seasonal average is 84.30 and he has won five Asian Tour titles in 2024. His International experience is limited to losing two pairs matches in the World cup.

Plaisier has won six of his last ten matches at the top level. His last match was a shocker, a 0-6 defeat to Ross Smith in the Players Championship finals, where Plaisier averaged just 80.08. He won PC28 and while he needs to work on his consistency, his A game is top class.

I was tempted by Plaisier to win and hit the most 180s at 1.75, but while the Japanese player has been pretty dry on the maximums recently, Wesley has fired a few blanks in the department as well. This is a no bet match for me.

2025 PDC WC Monday Tip: No Bet

Luke Woodhouse vs. Lourence Ilagan

Woodhouse may only have a win rate of 55% in 2024, but he is having a good season, winning £137,000 so far. He reached a couple of Euro Tour quarter finals and followed that up by reaching the semi-finals in the European Championship. He has had a couple of Players Championship semi-finals as well.

Woodhouse has grown up a bit, stopped being so down on himself, and the results have come. He has played in five previous World Championships and he has won three of his opening matches and lost in a deciding set in the other two. His recent form sees five wins from his last ten and he is playing with a decent level of consistency.

Lourence Ilagan is a regular in the World Championship, where he has played in eight, and won just one match, a 3-2 win over Rowby-John Rodriguez in 2023. He took Matt Campbell to a decider last year. His seasonal average is 85.30 and we last saw him in the Grand Slam, where he lost all three matches. He played well enough against Keane Barry, averaging 96.63, and he took three legs off Luke Littler.

Woodhouse is the 1.30 favourite and it does look like this is about by how wide a margin Woodhouse can win by. Woodhouse is a good 180 hitter. He hits 0.27 per leg, compared to 0.17 for Ilagan.

2025 PDC WC Monday Tip: 1 point Luke Woodhouse to hit the most 180s and win @ 1.85 with Boylesports

Alan Soutar vs. Kai Gotthard

An interesting match. Alan Soutar has lost eleven of his last thirteen matches, hit eight sub 90 averages, and three sub 80s, including two of his last three. He is the 1.58 favourite. His seasonal average is 91.56, but in the last three months just 88.41, so he is not coming here in any sort of form. Soots has played in two previous World Championships and reached the fourth round both times. That means he is defending £35,000, but his Tour card is safe.

Kai Gotthard won the PDC Europe Super League to qualify and he was runner up in the World Masters shortly before that. He is averaging 88.37 in the last three months, almost exactly the same as Soutar in the same time period.

Gotthard is attracting the money and given Soutar’s recent form, it is hardly a surprise.

2025 PDC WC Monday Tip: 1 point Kai Gotthard to win @ 2.50 with SportingIndex

James Wade vs. Jermaine Wattimena

Wattimena played well to beat Stephen Bellmont 3-0 last night. He averaged 98.54 and dropped four legs against the Swiss player, who did not disgrace himself. Wattimena has won seven of his last ten matches and is playing with a good deal of consistency. He has played five second round matches here and won two.

James Wade has won six of his last ten matches, but three of his last four saw sub 90 averages. A blip, or signs of a lack of form? It is too small a sample to tell.

His head to head record with Wattimena is good, winning seven of the previous nine matches, but it was Wattimena who won their last match, a 10-9 win the European Championship. The Dutchman is a more formidable opponent this year.

Wade has won thirteen of his seventeen second round matches here, but he has lost his last two, both 2-3 defeats. One to Matt Campbell and one to Jim Williams,

Wade is the 1.91 favourite, Wattimena 2.00.

These two have played two long format matches on TV with one win each, a 12-10 for Wade and that 10-9 for Wattimena a few weeks ago. I hope that Wattimena can win, but I expect another close match.

2025 PDC WC Monday Tip: 1 point over 4.5 sets @ 2.75 with Betfair

-JamesPunt