Chris Dobey has been one of the standout players this season and this will be his fourth major quarter-final appearance of the season, after reaching this stage of the World Matchplay, European Championships and World Grand Prix. Therefore, it comes as no surprise to most that he’s made a second quarter-final at the Ally Pally in consecutive years.

‘Hollywood’ has already recorded some of the tournaments top averages with 103.09, 102.36 and 102.43 en route, while the Treble 20 has also been peppered with Dobey smashing in an incredible 26 maximums. With that said, the 180s did drop off in the last round against Michael Smith where he only hit two in the 4-0 win.

Rob Cross has been one of the best players on the circuit in the past few months, form which saw him reach the final of the recent Grand Slam of Darts, where he would eventually lose out to Luke Humphries who was simply unplayable in that event. As a result, Cross will certainly fancy his chances of collecting a second Sid Waddell trophy.

‘Voltage’ has gradually grown into this event as a workmanlike performance against Thibault Tricole was followed by a ton-plus average against Jeffrey de Graaf. Cross was then simply scintillating in his 4-0 demolition win against Jonny Clayton in the last round and was clinical on the outer ring with a 44.44% checkout percentage.

It’s the finishing that Cross has highlighted as a contributing factor to his excellent form this season and this game will be won by the player who can hold their nerve when it really matters. Cross has a better seasonal average on the doubles (41.58% v 38.61%) and also has the experience of winning this tournament, which is likely to be a factor.

Luke Littler continues to defy the odds at this year’s tournament and seems to be going from strength to strength. It was no surprise to see the 16-year-old win the PDC World Youth Championship last month as he beat the equally talented Gian van Veen in Minehead, and winning the World Championship on debut is a real possibility.

‘The Nuke’ holds two of the top three spots in terms of tournament averages having achieved 106.12 against Christian Kist in the first round and then 105.01 against the legendary Raymond van Barneveld in the last round. He also leads the race for the Ballon d’Art – the most maximums – having already thrown 29 thus far.

Brendan Dolan is now into his second World Championship quarter-final having reached this stage back in 2019, when he was compressively beaten 5-1 by Nathan Aspinall. This now represents his best performance in any major TV tournament this season with a sixth round appearance in the UK Open his best effort in 2023.

‘The History Maker’ upset the odds against both Gerwyn Price and Gary Anderson in order to reach this stage and it would be naïve to write off his chances of reaching a first ever semi-final. While he’s not a big power-scorer, (averaging 0.15 180s per leg) his solid mid-90 averages have been more than enough to see Dolan safely through so far.

Littler is a 180 machine and has averaged a maximum of 0.40 180s per leg played during the tournament (29 in 71 legs). Dolan is fancied to pinch a couple of sets here, and as a result there would be more legs played than in his previous matches. Therefore, backing him to hit more than ten 180s during the course of the game is the play.