Friday World Matchplay Darts Betting Tips – JP
Friday World Matchplay Darts Preview
We were treated to two thrillers at the Winter Gardens on Thursday night. Unfortunately, Snakebite was beaten so we are now relying on Danny Noppert at 33s. Hopefully he gets the job done tonight, check out James Punt’s Friday World Matchplay Darts preview below.
Thursday Review
Another blank night at the darts. Peter Wright managed to lose his quarter final after getting off to a flying start, then collapsing, then rallying but ran out of legs. That he changed his darts 3-4 times during the match was a sign that he was struggling, but it was a bizarre match which didn’t go our way. That means we have just the one ante post selection left standing, and Danny Noppert plays in the opening match.
Danny Noppert vs. Dirk van Duijvenbode
An all Dutch affair between two of the best players in the tournament. Both are averaging over 100 and both are in great form.
Dirk has won nine of his last ten matches, hitting ton plus averages in six of them. He is the 180 king with a 12 month 180 per leg rate of 0.378. Noppert is no slouch either with 0.288, but Duijvenbode is the heavier scorer. Noppert is a little better on the doubles which helps even things out and there is less than a point between their 12 month averages.
Their H2H record is 5-2 to Danny Noppert and he has won their last three and two in 2022. This will be the longest match they have ever played but it was Noppert who won their only longer format match 10-2 in this year’s UK Open, which he went on to win. Noppert has played in five PDC TV quarter finals and won four. Both players warmed up for this event by winning a players championship title and Noppert has won eight of his last ten.
Closely Matched
It is hard to separate the two, both are in top form, scoring well, winning lots of matches and picking up titles. They are two of the coming men in darts.
The market is struggling to find the favourite with Van Duijvenbode a best priced 1.91 and Noppert 2.00. Dirk is the 1.83 favourite to hit the most 180s. He is the most prolific 180 hitter in the game, but so far, Danny Noppert is hitting more, 12 in his 31 legs played, compared to 10 in 36 for Dirk. Just as MVG was the outsider in this market last night and won 12-5, Noppert might prove profitable to beat the favourite in this side market.
Friday World Matchplay Darts Tip: 1 point Danny Noppert to hit the most 180’s @ 2.65 with Unibet
As for the match, it’s too close to call with any great confidence. We have backed Noppert e/w for the tournament and he needs to win this match to land the ‘to be placed’ part of the bet. The way things have gone this week, I think I know the script.
Gerwyn Price vs. Jose de Sousa
It was an emotional win for Jose when he overcame Rob Cross 11-8 in the second round. It was a relief for him to finally get a big match win on TV after a period in the darting doldrums. How much that will have taken out of him remains to be seen.
Gerwyn Price beat Dave Chisnall by the same score and he was just that bit better on the doubles. He has had to work for his two wins so far but has enjoyed the battles and he looks more interested than he has for a while. He has lost five of his last ten matches so his confidence may not be 100%.
De Sousa has had very little confidence for quite some time and the tears after his win on Wednesday told their own story. It has been a tough time for him, and it showed. He now has to get back to work and try and do it again.
Their H2H record is 3-2 to Jose but their last match was back in 2020 and De Sousa is not the player he was back then. His 103 average against Cross on Wednesday was his highest average on TV since last October. From being one of the heaviest scorers in the game, he is now down to 26th. Like Price, De Sousa has lost five of his last ten.
Price The Fav
The market has made Price the 1.50 favourite which is fair enough. De Sousa’s big score against Cross the other night stood out because we haven’t seen The Special One doing it on TV for a while and even in the floor events, his scoring power is not what it was. If you fancy him to win, you have to believe that he can reproduce the same sort of form, to follow an outlier of a performance with another. Price, while not being in great form himself, has been scoring better than Jose and his B game is better than Jose’s.
I can’t be confident that De Sousa has turned a corner. One good performance isn’t a comeback. Price is just a more naturally confident player; a harder competitor and De Sousa is likely to need his A game to compete. Price did not enjoy the Premier League, he rarely does. It went on too long and I think we may start to see more of the ‘old’ Gerwyn Price now we are through the weekly grind of the PL.
