Sunday Afternoon PDC Masters Preview

It was a night of nailbiting finishes at the Masters on Saturday night. Simon Whitlock ensured we finished with a winner, landing our +3.5 leg bet with ease. Hopefully James Punt can bash the bookies again today. Check out his Sunday Afternoon PDC Masters tips below.

Dave Chisnall vs. Michael Smith

Smith holds a 10-7 lead in their H2H record and he has won their last three meetings, although they have not met since 2019. Chisnall has only won one of their last eight matches.

Smith averaged 105 when beating Ratajski 10-6 yesterday. It was a good performance, a bit sticky on his doubles at times, but a very comfortable win in the end. Chisnall, happy with his game after putting in a lot more practice than he has done ‘for years’, beat James Wade 10-4. Wade never really got going and a 100 average for Chizzy was enough to brush him aside.

They hit 17 maximums between them and we should expect another 180 fest this afternoon. Both are top 10 for 180s per leg and both are seeing the treble 20 well, hitting 1.1 maximums per leg, so far.

Who wins the match? Their H2H record says Smith but we are seeing a better version of Chisnall this weekend. Smith is the better player, but he does get tight under pressure and if Chizzy can stay with Smith, he might just be able to get the better of Bully Boy. It is interesting that both players are still in with a chance of getting THE monkey of their back and win a televised title.

Smith is the 1.54 favourite and Chisnall 2.63.

Sunday Afternoon PDC Masters tips: 1 point over 12.5 180s @ 2.15 with Ladbrokes

Sunday Afternoon PDC Masters tips: 1 point Dave Chisnall to win @ 2.63 SpreadEx, Betfair

Gerwyn Price vs. Jonny Clayton

Price admitted that he hasn’t put in much practice since the World Championship and he looked rusty last night when beating Ryan Searle 10-8. He averaged 95 and was 45% on the doubles, so it was hardly a poor performance but just a little rusty. He leads Clayton 12-7 in their H2Hs and in 2021 it was 3-2 to Price.

Jonny Clayton needed a deciding leg to get his 10-9 win over Dimitri van den Bergh. Last year he needed a deciding leg to win his first three matches here. History repeating itself? It may do. Clayton averaged 100 and was 42% on his doubles.

Price is the 1.91 favourite and Clayton 2.05. They are two of the very best players in the sport and the odds look about right, but will one match have been enough to get Price’s game back to 100%? Clayton has got positive mental associations with this venue having won this and the Premier League at the Marshall Arena last year. Clayton won their last, and only, best of 19 leg match 10-9 in the World Series of Darts quarter final last October.

Sunday Afternoon PDC Masters tips: 1 point Clayton to win @ 2.05 with Unibet

Sunday Afternoon PDC Masters tips: 0.5 point Clayton to win 10-9 @ 10.00 with Betfair

Simon Whitlock vs. Jose De Sousa

Whitlock’s unlikely run continued last night with a 10-8 win over Peter Wright. Snakebite was our number 1 selection to win the tournament, but he turned up with some joke darts and struggled with them. Gold darts good, anything else shit when it comes to Wrights darts.

Whitlock could barely contain his glee when he saw what Wright was playing with and he fancied his chances as a result. The Wizard only averaged 93 and he wasn’t especially impressive but took his chances to edge Wright out.

Jose de Sousa is 2-0 against Whitlock and he looked a bit more like himself when beating Rob Cross 10-7. Cross made a De Sousaesque counting error at one point, hitting the double 8 when he needed double 4. That swung the match De Sousa’s way and The Special One said thank you very much and took the win, averaging 98.7. It was a good all-round performance and if he keeps that up, he wins.

De Sousa is the 1.57 favourite with Whitlock 2.63.

Sunday Afternoon PDC Masters tips: 0.5 point Jose De Sousa to win 10-6 @ 8.50 with Betfred, SpreadEx, Fitzdares

Michael van Gerwen vs. Joe Cullen

MVG beat Luke Humphries 10-9 in a poor match, both players only averaging 91. It ended on a bit of a sour note, with Humphries complaining that Van Gerwen had coughed to try and put him off. MVG didn’t deny a cough but did that he was cheating. He certainly was behaving a little oddly, however.

Van Gerwen has played six Masters’ quarter finals and won the last five, but that was in his pomp, and MVG does not look anywhere that kind of level. He knows that he is no longer the top dog. He has a 18-8 H2H record over Cullen, but in 2021 it was 2-2 and MVG looks to be stuck in 2021 mode, capable of big scores, but lacking confidence and that makes him vulnerable.

Joe Cullen has had some good wins against Van Gerwen, beating him in two Euro Tour finals and he beat him in two players championship semi-finals last year, but he has lost their previous four televised matches. The last was a 3-5 defeat at the Grand Slam when MVG averaged 115!

It must be said that Cullen was superb when beating Gary Anderson 10-1 yesterday. It was a 106 average but felt better than that. He was 77% on the doubles, only hit one 180 but had checkouts of 167, 142 and 115. Cullen had 8 legs of 14 darts or fewer and that is very hard to oppose.

Cullen may not be able to repeat that very high standard, but he was playing a different game to what MVG produced in his match.

Van Gerwen is the 1.50 favourite and Cullen a 2.70 shot. Based on past form, past form on stage, those odds are OK, but based on 2021 form and based on yesterday, MVG looks overrated.

Sunday Afternoon PDC Masters tips: 1 point Joe Cullen to win @ 2.70 with Unibet Betfred, Fitzdares

Sunday Afternoon PDC Masters tips: 0.5 Cullen to win 10-6 @ 16.00 with Unibet

(Over the last 5 years, 35% of quarter finals ended 10-6, so hopefully we can catch one this year)

-JamesPunt