Thursday Afternoon PDC World Championship Preview

We made a rock solid start on Wednesday with two winners from three selections. James Punt is hoping for more of the same today, check out his Thursday Afternoon PDC World Championship preview and free tips below.

Steve Lennon vs. Madars Razma

Steve Lennon has lost eleven of his last twelve matches and his win rate has slumped to 46% in 2021. He can still hit high averages, but his confidence is shot to bits. He has won two of his four first round matches here and never gone beyond the second round.

Razma is playing almost as badly as Lennon, losing seven of his last ten. It is less than two months ago since Razma reached a pro tour semi-final, but since then his game has gone right off the boil. He has played two first round matches here and won one.

Both players are horribly out of form but one of them will go through. The bookmakers have Razma as the 1.83 favourite but getting involved in a match between two players who have forgotten how to win is not my idea of good betting.

Scott Mitchell vs. Chris Landman

Mitchell is not in good form having lost seven of his last ten matches. He not playing total trash but just not getting the job done. Mitchell is a former BDO World Champion but this his first visit to Ally Pally.

Landsman came through six qualifying matches to win the Western European qualifier. He averages 84.6 in 2021 and he plays on the European Challenge tour with limited success.

Mitchell is the 1.40 favourite with Landman a 3.25 shot. Those odds look fair enough and this is yet another no bet match.

Chas Barstow vs. John Norman jnr.

If you bought tickets for this session, you might want your money back.

Here we have non-tour card holder Barstow, a player who is very much out of form, having lost eight of his last ten, up against a former tour card holder, Canadian John Norman jnr.

Barstow only just missed out on his card at this year’s tour school, but he got enough invites to players championship events that he won enough money to qualify for the players championship finals and this World Championship. However, his most recent form has been poor.

Norman didn’t make much use of his tour card from 2017 to 2018 and when he did, he wasn’t much cop. He has played on the CDC Canadian Series in 2021, averaging 88.12, winning matches but playing against softer opponents.

Scoring wise there is little between the two. Norman might be more confident because he has won eight of his last ten and Barstow has lost eight of his last ten.  Barstow is losing to better players, but he is losing.

I’ve seen Barstow playing and he is decent player but Norman can play too, even if he isn’t doing it week in and week out. There is just enough value in Norman’s odds to support him.

Thursday Afternoon PDC World Championship Tip: 1 point John Norman jnr. to win @ 2.60 with Ladbrokes

Daryl Gurney vs. Ricky Evans

The TXODDS Derby match. Ricky Evans beat Nitin Kumar 3-0 last night. He left behind his Players Championship performance behind him and averaged 96 a put in a good performance. More importantly, he was finding the doubles.

The H2H record is 5-5 but the last match was back in 2020. Superchin has won three of their last four matches. On stage it is 3-2 to Gurney and in major championships 2-1.

Daryl Gurney was showing better form at the players championship finals, a little unlucky not to make the semi-final, but then again, he was gifted his second round match against Michael Smith.

Generally, Superchin is the heavier scorer but as the H2H records show, this will be no push over and odds off 1.40 for a Gurney win look a little cramped. He has only ever lost one of his opening world championship matches, Evans has won four of his six second round matches.

Evans played well enough last night to think he will get something out of the game. The handicaps are a bit tight with Gurney -1.5 a 1.91 chance and Evans 2.00 +1.50. I’ll take a chance on this being a fairly close affair but Superchin to take it 3-1.

Thursday Afternoon PDC World Championship Tip: 1 point Daryl Gurney to win 3-1 @ 3.50 generally available

-JamesPunt