2025 PDC WC Friday Night Preview

It was another profitable afternoon for James Punt at the Ally Pally. He’s hoping to terrorise the bookies again this evening, check out his 2025 PDC WC Friday Night preview and tips below.

Gerwyn Price vs. Joe Cullen

The disrespect’o’meter is going off the scale here. Not only have the stupid bookies not made Joe Cullen the favourite, but the stupid punters are not backing him! Price is now the 1.40 favourite, with Cullen out to 3.25.

It will be very interesting to see how the crowd behaves for this match. Traditionally, the Ally Pally crowd boo and barrack Price. He is the Black Prince of Darts. He even took to the stage with industrial ear defenders on for one previous match. But now, we may have a new pretender to his throne.

Reading social media reaction to Cullen’s little tantrums about not being shown enough respect by the media, the bookies…everyone, it seems that the general consensus was that Cullen had behaved like …well there was any number of choice descriptions, and not many were positive.

Hissy Fit

It was a classic example of how to turn a triumph into a defeat. Cullen played very well to beat the much fancied Wessell Nijman 3-0 in the second round. Both players averaged 98 and it was one of the best performances so far.

Instead of celebrating that, and moving onto the third round in good fettle, Cullen decided, and it was premeditated, to be rude to the on stage interviewer, and throw a hissy fit at the required press interviews, ending up by getting up and flouncing out. Only after embarrassing himself by showing complete ignorance of how betting markets work. He looked a complete tit.

If he has a manager, they will have had their work cut out to try and mitigate the damage. Cullen now has some bridge building to do and to do it quickly. He has created a big distraction out of nothing and that will not have helped his preparation. Yes, some players need to be fired up to play their best, but not many can perform at their best if a large part of the crowd is handing out generous portions of abuse.

Now For The Darts

Anyway, what about the actual darts? Cullen produced a better performance than Price in the second round. The Iceman beat Keane Barry 3-0, averaging 91.32. It was a bog standard dispatch of a lesser player. There is little more to say about that match.

Price has won five of his last ten matches, and he has been far from his best for some time. There was talk about retirement, he had lost interest in darts and it reflected in his performance. More recently, he has done a U-Turn. He now wants to carry on, play the Premier League and so on.

Dreadful Season

Joe Cullen has had a dreadful season, distracted by off the oche issues at home, but those are behind him now and he is getting back to being a full time, professional darts player, looking forward to a better 2025.

His game looked in much better shape than it had been for a while when he beat Nijman the other day, so he had demonstrated that he was on the comeback trail. He has won just four of his last ten matches, and hit seven sub 90 averages, but, if he has been able to turn a corner, that that poor form may well be behind him.

Both players have things going on in their heads which may not be conducive for playing their best darts. Both are likely to get dogs abuse form the crowd. As punters, we do not have to bet every match, and this looks like a very obvious one to pass over. No bet.

2025 PDC WC Friday Night Tip: No Bet

Jermaine Wattimena vs. Peter Wright

Our 41.00 pick to win the quarter flew through his first two matches in fine style. The Dutchman beat Steffan Belmont and James Wade both 3-0, dropping just six legs and averaging 98.85 across the two matches. He was certainly one of the top performers before the Christmas break.

His recent form sees him winning eight of his last ten matches. Wattimena has never gone beyond the third round before, but he has never played as well here as he has done this year.

Peter Wright beat Wesley Plaisier 3-2 in his opening match. It was just a 89.63 average for the two time Champion, and he was helped by Plaisier missing twenty doubles. Wright has won just two of his last ten matches, and one of his many defeats was a 0-6 thrashing by Wattimena in the European Championship.

Their H2H record is 17-5 to Wright, but I think we can say, that was then, and this is now. Wright’s form has gone down the pan, while Wattimena has become a very good player in 2024.

Wattimena is the 1.36 favourite, with Wright 3.30. So long as Wattimena doesn’t get ahead of himself and start thinking about the next round before he has won this, he should be fine.

Peter Wright has never lost a third round match to nil, will this be a first time?

2025 PDC WC Friday Night Tip: 0.5 point Jermaine Wattimena to win 4-0 @ 4.50 with livescorebet

Luke Humphries vs. Nick Kenny

It has been a long time between drinks for Luke Humphries. He played on the opening night and has had eleven days to wait before his third round match. He will be well rested, but there can be no momentum in his game.

Humphries has won nine of his last ten matches in a row, and he has never lost a third round match here, but he has never won one to nil, although he did get a walkover win in the 2022 third round.

Nick Kenny may have done enough to keep his tour card after winning his first two matches. He is up to 63rd, but he could still be overtaken by De Graaf and/or Robert Owens. This could turn out to be a heart-breaking match for him. Kenny has won six of his last ten matches, but only averaged 88 and 86 in his first two rounds.

Their H2H record is 2-0 to Humphries, both 6-3 wins in legs, and both back in 2021.

Humphries is an unbackable 1.06 favourite, Kenny 10.00. That is a bit harsh on Kenny, but not by too much. I will give the Welshman a chance to get a set on the board, however.

2025 PDC WC Friday Night Tip: 0.5 point Luke Humphries to win 4-1 @ 3.60 with Fitzdares, Betfred

-JamesPunt