Saturday World Matchplay Darts Betting Tips – JP
Saturday World Matchplay Darts Preview
Thankfully, our 33/1 selection Danny Noppert made short work of The Aubergenius last night. Hopefully he can go all the way now. The semi-finals take place this evening at the Winter Gardens, check out James Punt’s Saturday World Matchplay tips and previews below.
Gerwyn Price vs. Danny Noppert
Danny Noppert has had an easier path to the semi-final, playing just 58 legs to Price’s 67. It looked like he was in trouble last night as he got off to a slow start against Dirk van Duijvenbode. He went 4-1 up at the first break thanks to Dirk missing a load of doubles, but after the break he just kept on going for tops and kept on missing.
Luckily, he was excellent with his third dart and dug himself out of trouble but he was being outscored big time. Inevitably, Dirk took the lead at 7-6 but he couldn’t shake Noppert off and eventually, Noppert found top gear and won the last four legs with 16, 14, 14 and 12 dart legs. It was a good win in that he was able to win legs when he wasn’t playing well and once he found his scoring boots, he accelerated to the line.
Price Pushed All The Way
Price was pushed by De Sousa and the match went with throw until Price got a break in the 12th. He got another in the 15th leg and then pushed on, going 13-8. De Sousa then won five in a row to square the match. The Special One missed five darts to make it 15-15 and Price fell over the line to win 16-14. He averaged 104.64 and that makes his tournament average 100.91. He has lost five of his last ten matches. Noppert’s tournament average is 100.14 and he has won eight of his last ten.
Their H2H record is 5-3 to Price. Six have been played on stage and Price won four of those. They have played twice in 2022 and Price won both 4-1 and 6-4. Advantage Price in that department.
Proven Major Credentials
Both players are major winners but Price has many more and is the more accomplished player. He is back as the World Number 1 and will be feeling like the Cock ‘o’ the North. The crowd just think he is a cock, which may give Noppert some help.
Danny Noppert is the 2.63 outsider, Price 1.55 favourite. It is hard to argue with those odds. We are on Noppert for the title but he has already landed the place and anything else is a bonus. His doubling has been excellent with three darts in hand and if he starts hitting tops, then he can take the pressure off the last dart in hand.
They have played only two longer format matches, best of 19 legs and Noppert won one 10-7 and Price the other 10-3. Noppert’s win came in this event but that was the behind closed doors year.
The only bet that makes any appeal is over 19.5 180s. Their combined strike rate so far is 0.70 per leg, and if we get a reasonably close match than we should see plenty of maximums.
Saturday World Matchplay tips: 1 point over 18.5 180’s @ 1.91 with Boylesports
Dimitri van den Bergh vs. Michael van Gerwen
With three World Matchplay titles between them and five finals, this is a clash between two tournament specialists. Arguably, Dimitri’s record is more impressive as he has lost just one match from thirteen played. He is a big stage player and his positive mental associations with the event are very strong. His record in televised PDC semi-finals is played eight and won five. All those wins came in this event, or World Series events. He has won seven of his last ten matches, so his form is good, and his tournament average is 100.
MVG has won seven of his last ten and his tournament average is 96.2. He has improved round by round. He has played five Matchplay semi-finals and won three. The Green Machine is almost back to his best, perhaps a little undercooked after a month off recovering from wrist surgery, but he has got most of his confidence back and that makes him a much more dangerous player.
MVG Dominant
Their H2H record is 9-1-1 to MVG. Dimitri has not beaten Michael since May 2018 in the German Darts Masters World Series event, his only win against MVG. They have never played a match of this length before. They have met twice in 2022, both on the Euro Tour. MVG won both, a semi-final 7-6 and a final 8-5. Close, but the same result in the end.
Michael van Gerwen is the 1.75 favourite, Van den Bergh 2.20. Given that H2H record, it is Van Gerwen who looks the better value. It will be, however, a proper test of his newly rediscovered confidence. Van den Bergh will be no pushover. He is at home on this stage and is used to winning on it.
Boo Boys
MVG hasn’t made the final since 2016 and something happened in his quarter final match which very rarely happens. He got booed by the crowd. He was not the crowd favourite, they wanted Aspinall to win, or to at least go to extra time. MVG doesn’t like getting booed. He will hope to have a big enough lead to keep the crowd on his side, or at least keep them quiet.
Something has to give here, Van den Bergh’s perfect Matchplay semi-final record, or MVG’s nearly perfect H2H record over the Belgian. It would be a surprise if it wasn’t a reasonably close match. Both are scoring well and their doubles are good, especially for Dimitri, and that could be the difference. Extra time would not be a surprise, but that has happened just once in the last ten years at this stage.
