Chris Dobey and Josh Rock collide in Saturday night’s curtain-raiser at the World Darts Championship.

Both players comfortably navigated their way through to round 3, with Dobey seeing off Alexander Merkx 3-1, while Rock recorded a 3-0 win over Rhys Griffin.

Dobey is the firm 1.73 favourite heading into this clash and he should be able to edge out Rock. ‘Hollywood’ has enjoyed a mightily impressive year on the oche, averaging a fantastic 97.16 across 2024. To put that into context, only Gary Anderson, Luke Littler and Luke Humphries have posted a higher average this calendar year. The Bedlington-born ace has also been a serial 180-hitter, crashing in 467 maximums since the turn of the year.

While Rock has also performed well throughout 2024, he was solid rather than spectacular when getting the better of Griffin in round 2. He averaged a shade over 87 and lost the 180 battle 4-3. Dobey, in contrast, delivered a 95.62 average alongside 6 maximums in overcoming Merkx. On top of all that, ‘Hollywood’ can also draw confidence from his recent head-to-head record with Rock, having emerged victorious from each of their previous 2 meetings this year.

Michael van Gerwen can march on in his quest for a 4th world title by getting the better of Brendan Dolan on Saturday night. ‘Mighty Mike’ set up this round 3 clash after a 3-0 whitewash win over James Hurrell in round 2. As for seasoned campaigner Dolan, he also claimed  a 3-0 win of his own, over Lok-Yin Lee.

It’s no surprise to see van Gerwen as the heavy favourite here and his superior class should tell against the ‘History Maker’. With MVG the overwhelming favourite for the win, an alternative is to side with the Dutchman to triumph alongside hitting the most 180s. ‘The Green Machine’ won the 180 count 5-1 when swatting aside Hurrell in round 2. Those 5 180s mean that van Gerwen has now hit 448 maximums this year –  a haul that has the Dutchman housed inside the top-13 for 180s scored across 2024 thus far.

Dolan, on the other hand, is not renowned for his 180 scoring – he has hit 173 maximums this year to date. It’s also worth noting that Dolan failed to outmax his opponent in each of his 4 outings on the Ally Pally stage at last year’s showpiece.

Given the frequency in which Luke Littler fires in 180s, it makes sense to side with him to land the opening maximum of the game when he meets Ian White in round 3 at the World Darts Championship on Saturday night. ‘The Nuke’ eased himself into the tournament with a 3-1 win over Ryan Meikle last weekend.

While Littler wasn’t at his fluent best throughout his round 2 victory, he still managed to fill the treble 20 bed on no fewer than 10 occasions. A number of those 180s coincided with Littler hitting a tournament record 140.91 set average when getting the better of Meikle in round 2. As such, the teenage sensation has now taken his 180 tally for the year to a PDC-high 810.

The Warrington wonderkid will be keen to pick up from where he left off and he looks well placed to deliver the opening 180 of the game against White. ‘Diamond’ failed to hit the 1st maximum of the match when he edged out Ritchie Edhouse in round 2. In fact, the 54-year-old mustered up just 2 180s against ‘Madhouse’ – both of which arrived during the 3rd set of the game.