Thursday Evening PDC World Championship Preview

James Punt made a decent start on Wednesday landing a couple of nice winners from just three tips. Let’s hope for more of the same on Day 2. Check out his Thursday Evening PDC World Championship preview and tips below.

William O’Connor vs. Danny Lauby jnr.

There is a bit of an opportunity for whoever wins this match, as they will face the completely out of form Glen Durrant in the second round. Win that and it is a minimum of £25k banked. That is the equivalent of winning a Euro Tour event.

O’Connor is playing reasonably well, winning six of his last ten matches. He has beaten Clayton, Dobey and Ratajski in those last ten and a run to the semi-final in the penultimate players championship event will have been a timely confidence boost. He has won three of his four opening matches at Ally Pally and is the 1.44 favourite to add another to that tally.

Lauby is making his second appearance in the World Championship, and he did himself proud last year, taking Ryan Searle to a deciding set. Searle needed a 98 average to get through despite Lauby averaging 89. He is a stylish left hander who failed to win a tour card in January but has split his time between the UK Challenge Tour and the CDC tour in North America.

Lauby Can Raise Game

Lauby has won two CDC events and reached a Challenge Tour final. He may only be averaging 84.6 in 2021 but playing on the lesser tours tends to do that and he is capable of raising his game. Lauby is improving, is one of the best players across the pond but he has tried and failed three times to win a tour card.

Lauby will be no pushover for this match, he has prepared properly, but O’Connor is an experienced operator and has won all three of his first round matches here 3-0. Lauby is maybe a little better than his past conquests, but I’ll take O’Connor to cover the handicap.

Thursday Evening PDC World Championship Tip: 1 point William O’Connor to win -1.5 sets @ 1.91 with Ladbrokes

Ryan Meikle vs. Fabian Schmutzler

This will be interesting. Miekle is off my Christmas card list after busting an 11 match accumulator at the recent Players Championship finals. The first ten were up and the last leg was Dirk van Duijvenbode to beat Miekle. The Aubergenuis averaged 105…but still lost 5-6 to The Barber who averaged a season’s best 108! He’ll not be cutting my hair.

To say a performance like that was a little unexpected would be an understatement. Meikle then averaged 84 against Gary Anderson and lost 2-6. He has lost seven of his last ten matches and I would still not expect a ton plus average from him.

Young German Challenger

Fabian Schmutzler is a 16 year old German player who’s first Euro Challenge tour as an eligible player (over 16) saw him qualify for the World Championship by winning two titles in one weekend. He reached the semi-final in the remaining event. He averaged about 85 that weekend but there were a few high 90’s.

Meikle has played twice at Ally Pally and lost both matches, 1-3 vs. Yuki Yamada and 0-3 to Keegan Brown. Meikle is the 1.40 favourite, Schmutzler 3.25.

This could be hard for Meikle. He is playing a kid, a kid who looks about 25 and speaks perfect English, and the Englishman will be expected to win easily. Meikle isn’t playing well, a coupon busting performance excepted, and if Schmutzler can relax and enjoy the experience, you never know.

In Meikle’s last ten matches he has had a 108 average, two 99’s and the rest sub 90, so it doesn’t look likely he can blow the German away on scoring. That 108 is a complete outlier and on recent form he is much more likely to be averaging mid to high eighties. That is more in Schmutzler’s ballpark and he might get something out of the match.

Thursday Evening PDC World Championship Tip: 1 point Fabian Schmutzler to win +1.5 sets @ 2.10 with SpreadEx

Ron Meulenkamp vs. Lisa Ashton

Ron The Bomb has won just one of his last seven matches and only two of those saw a 90 plus average. That sort of scoring will allow Ashton chances but her record in ranked majors is poor. She has played fourteen ranked major matches and won just one. She has lost both her previous World Championship matches, 1-3 vs. Jan Dekker and 2-3 vs. Adam Hunt.

These two have met twice before and it is 1-1 in the H2H‘s. I expect Ashton to at least win a set and perhaps take it to a decider.

Thursday Evening PDC World Championship Tip: 1 point Ashton to win +1.5 sets @ 2.00 with SpreadEx

Thursday Evening PDC World Championship Tip: 0.5 point Meulenkamp to win 3-2 @ 4.75 with SpreadEx

Gary Anderson vs. Adrian Lewis

Arguably the most anticipated of the second-round matches. Both are two time World Champions and they are the last two players to successfully defend their titles. Both are not the players they once were, but it is Lewis who fallen away the most. He is the younger player but while Anderson remains firmly in the top 10, Lewis is now the 32nd ranked player.

In terms of recent form, Anderson has won six of his last ten matches, Lewis five. Lewis has already played and won a match here, overcoming Matt Campbell 3-1 in a fairly competitive match. Worryingly for Lewis is that in his last 16 matches he has only won back-to-back twice. His recent performances have been consistently inconsistent. He has lost two of his last four last 64 matches here.

Gary Anderson has won all twelve of his last 64 matches here and not dropped more than one set in the last nine. Their H2H record is 30-21 to Anderson with three draws. Anderson has won seven of their last ten meetings and in terms of matches played in this championship it is 1-1, both matches being finals.

Anderson has not been a model of consistency himself recently, but this tournament is why he plays darts these days. The rest doesn’t matter. He would happily just play at Ally Pally every year, pick up a big cheque and go fishing for the rest of the year.

Gary Anderson is the 1.67 favourite, but I’ll take him to cover the handicap.

Thursday Evening PDC World Championship Tip: 1 point Gary Anderson to win -1.50 sets @ 2.45 with Ladbrokes

-JamesPunt