2026 PDC WC Day 18 Preview

We landed three winners on Day 17, including a couple of correct scores at decent odds. James Punt’s 2026 PDC WC Day 18 previews and tips are below.

Fourth Round Reflections

The fourth round matches saw a loss of 2.27 points taking the tournament tally to -2.30 points. We are now down to the last seven matches to decide who will be the 2026 World Champion.

I didn’t pick an outright selection but we are on Littler to meet Van Veen in the final, at 11.00. They are both still in the running, so fingers crossed. The only other outright bet still running is Van Veen to win his quarter at 4.50. We have lost Dobey, Bunting and Rock in the quarter betting for a -2.5 point loss. Hopefully we can still wrangle a profit, but a lot is riding on Van Veen’s shoulders.

We have four quarter final matches today, two this afternoon and two in the evening. Looking at the last ten year’s quarter finals, half of the matches ended over 7.5 sets, half under. Only 10% ended 5-0 and the most common scoreline was 5-3 at 30%, followed by 5-1 at 25%.

The best odds for the World Championship are now Littler 1.60, Luke Humphries 6.00, Gian van Veen 11.00, Anderson 12.00, Hood 23.00, Searle 23.00, Clayton 41.00 and Ratajski 126.00.

Ryan Searle vs. Jonny Clayton

Heavy Metal, changed his darts before this tournament and whatever the difference between them and his old ones, they seem to be working some magic. Searle has yet to drop a set and is averaging 98.70. That is three points up on his 12-month average. Searle has only ever played in three major quarter finals and lost two. His only win was at the 2021 Players Championship finals.

Searle has beaten Landman, Dolan, Schindler and Hurrell. He has not yet faced a player averaging over 90 and he has had an easy ride to get this far. That said, he has got his head down and got the job done with no messing around. He has trousered £100k without breaking sweat. His 180 per leg rate is 0.295 and his checkout rate a very healthy 52%. If he keeps that up, he will be hard to beat.

Three Matches

Jonny Clayton has only played three matches to earn his £100K, having had a bye in round two after Dom Taylor failed a drugs test. His tournament average is 94.59, which is about two points under his 12 month average.

The Ferret has beaten Adam Lipscombe, Neils Zonneveld and Andreas Harrysson. He dropped six sets in those three matches and was pushed very hard by Zonneveld, who averaged 99.36 when taking Clayton to a deciding set.

He has had a shorter, but arguably tougher, path to this quarter final than Searle. That said, he hasn’t played as well as Searle. Clayton’s checkout rate has been 42% and all things considered, it is Searle who looks to be playing the better darts.

H2H

Their H2H record is 6-5 to Clayton, 1-1 in 2025 and in ranked Majors 2-1 to Clayton. They last met in the European Championship and Searle won that 6-3 in October. It wasn’t much of a match and Clayton lost it with poor doubling.

Jonny Clayton is the more experienced player at this kind of level. He has won one ranking Major title and been runner up in three. He has won two further non-ranking TV titles, two World Cups and a Premier league. Jonny is more driven by trying to qualify for the 2026 Premier league than he is by winning this title. He is provisionally in the automatic qualifying positions, but that could still change.

Searle Odds On

Ryan Searle is the 1.73 favourite and given their relative form in the tournament so far, that is fair. Jonny Clayton has played in one World Championship quarter final and lost that 3-5 to Dimitri van den Bergh.

Clayton is a scrapper and rarely gives up. If he gets beaten heavily it is usually by somebody like Littler. He did have a period where he struggled after the death of his father, but he has got his mojo back again and has had some good results in the Majors in 2025, with a final and three semi-finals.

That said, Searle just looks the better player right now and while he could get tight with a big prize on offer, he looks to have prepared well, has brought the family with him, and that keeps him happy.

2026 PDC WC Day 18 Tip: 1 point Ryan Searle to win @ 1.73 generally available

2026 PDC WC Day 18 Tip: 0.5 point Ryan Searle to win 5-3 @ 6.00 with Ladbrokes, Boylesports, Betfred

Gary Anderson vs. Justin Hood

We quite often get a big outsider having a good run at Ally Pally, and this year it is ‘Happy Feet’ Justin Hood. The wee man from Somerset has made enough money to buy his Chinese restaurant and he has joined fellow West Country residents, Ryan Joyce and Gary Anderson in the quarter finals.

He only won his tour card back in January so this is a bit of a dream scenario, but not for him. Hood says he has more to come and this is just what he can do. He does seem genuinely unfazed by the whole thing. He is now playing for a place in the semi-final and the chance to win £200K. I don’t care how chilled you are, that is going to be on anyone’s mind.

Hood’s tournament statistics are very impressive. He is averaging 99.61, is checking out at 48% and is hitting 180s at 0.40 per leg. That is top level darts. Gary Anderson has also been playing very well. He is averaging 100.49, checking out at 37% and his 180 per leg rate is 0.425.

Closely Matched

They are closely matched, outside of their respective check out rates. Hood beat Josh Rock 4-0 in the fourth round match and hit eleven doubles in a row, a new record in the World Championship. He only missed when he was going for the match winning doubles.

Anderson is scoring a little better, but not significantly, and this has the look of a close match. It is all new for Hood, while Anderson has played in nine World Championship quarter finals and won six. None went to a deciding set and only two went over 7.5 sets.

No Scar Tissue

Hood has no scar tissue, Anderson has mostly good memories of easy wins at this stage, and on this stage. They have only met once, in a Players Championship match in June, and Hood won that 6-2.

It is not much of a form guide, Anderson averaged 105, Hood 97, but it was won and lost on the doubles. Anderson was just 22% on his checkouts, missing seven doubles, Hood was 60% and hit six from eight. Echoes of the Rock match on Tuesday.

Gary Anderson is the 1.44 favourite, Hood 3.00. Those are fair enough, if you expect Hood to drop his standards shown so far. This is always the question when you have an unheralded, almost unheard of, player who has a great run. They are bound to shit the bed at some point, surely? However, he has shown no signs of doing so.

Rogue Outsider

In the tournament preview, I was very keen to press the point that the tournament is won by the top seeded players, the top ten, and that went for the semi-finalists as well, but we do get the odd rogue outsider crashing the semi-finals.

The latest was Scott Williams. He got his tour card in 2023 and qualified for the World Championship. He beat Danny Noppert in round two (spooky), beat MVG 5-3 in the quarter finals, before getting stuffed 0-6 by Humphries in the semi-final.

So, Williams was in his first season as a tour card holder, beat Noppert in round two and beat a multiple world champion in the semi-final. Hood is in his first season as a tour card holder, beat Danny Noppert in round two and faces a multiple world champion in the quarter final. (Sound of X-Flies theme tune).

2026 PDC WC Day 18 Tip: 1 point Justin Hood to win @ 3.00 with Bresbet

2026 PDC WC Day 18 Tip: 0.5 point Justin Hood to win 5-3 @ 9.50 with Livescorebet

Luke Littler vs. Krzysztof Ratajaski

Luke Littler has now won seventeen matches in a row and eleven in a row here at Ally Pally. His tournament average is 103.09, his checkout rate 56% and is hitting 180s at 0.52 per leg. Ridiculous stuff.

Krzysztof Ratajski has played near his best, averaging 96.67, checking out at 45% and hitting 180s @ 0.215. All decent stuff, but stood beside Littler’s stats, and they are just in a different class. Maybe on the floor Ratajski could beat Littler, but on the Ally Pally stage?

Littler made a bit of a tit of himself after beating Rob Cross 4-2 the other day. The crowd were on Cross’ side. He was the plucky underdog taking a few lumps out of the big dog. Littler got a few boos. After he won, he rounded on the audience, goading them by saying he didn’t care (he really does care) if they liked him or not, because they paid his wages by paying for tickets. It was a stupid thing to do.

Boo Boys

People will say that he is still young etc., but he has alienated an entire country before with the same antics. He can’t win a match in Germany, won’t travel to Germany unless absolutely necessary, but he obviously didn’t learn from his spat with the German fans. Littler will now be a target for the Boo Boys.

Just like it was open season on Gerwyn Price for years, the idiots in the crowd now have a new target, and not just here, it will follow him about like a bad smell for a long time. He is good enough to beat players even if the crowd are hating on him, but it will just make things unpleasant, and doing unpleasant things is harder than doing pleasant things.

Littler is playing a Polish player tonight, so the crowd are not going to be on Ratajski’s side, but if, as the underdog, he took a few bites out of Littler, the Boo Boys will smell blood.

Littler Long Odds On

As is the case with the vast majority of Littler’s matches, there are not great for betting on. Littler is 1.06 to win, Ratajski 13.00. They have played four times and littler has won all four. Their only TV match was at this year’s UK Open and that was quite close, a 10-8 win for Littler.

Littler’s previous quarter finals here saw a 5-1 win over Dolan two years ago, and a 5-2 win over Aspinall last year. Maybe The Polish Eagle can get something on the board.

2026 PDC WC Day 18 Tip: 0.5 point Luke Littler to win 5-1 @ 3.75 with Skybet

Luke Humphries vs. Gian van Veen

It is shit or bust time for our ante post bets here. Van Veen must win. Their H2H record gives him a decent chance. The Dutchman has won their last four matches. Humphries won their first four matches, but in 2025 it is 4-0 to Gian van Veen, and all were important matches.

Van Veen won his first senior PDC title when beating Humphries 8-3 in the final of PC6 in March. He backed that up with his first win over Humphries on TV with a 10-8 win the Matchplay in July. Van Veen then beat Humphries 11-10 in the final of the European Championship in October to win his first Major, and finally he beat the Englishman 6-5 in the recent Players Championship finals in late November.

Nothing In It

Looking at their tournament stats and there is very little between them. Van Veen is averaging 100.89, Humphries 99.73. Humphries is hitting the 180s at 0.39 per leg, Van Veen 0.38, and Van Veen is checking out at 49%, Humphries 46%.

Van Veen has dropped a set in all four of his matches, but he has faced four competitive opponents and he rose to the challenge each time. Humphries only really faced one opponent that put up a fight and that was a late comeback from Clemens in round three. Luke was 3-0 up but lost the next two sets and was taken to a deciding leg in the final set.

Humphries is the 1.70 favourite, Van Veen 2.30. I would have it closer than that and probably have Van Veen as the favourite. However, we are already invested in him winning this and I will leave the outright market be, but a close match looks likely.

2026 PDC WC Day 18 Tip: 1 point over 7.5 sets @ 1.97 with Livescorebet

-JamesPunt