The final day of darting action before the festive break sees another double session. This will complete the second round and leave 32 players in the hunt for the title. As usual our darts expert takes us through the 8 matches.

---

Damon Heta vs Luke Woodhouse

Aussie Damon Heta sits in the 31st place in the Order of Merit but you’d struggle to name 30 better players than him currently and you’d have to imagine he’ll continue to rise over the next year or so, a good run here would certainly help in that respect.

He faces Bewdley man Luke Woodhouse first up this afternoon who’s already come through his first round game against James Wilson 3-1 with a respectable 91.52. It wasn’t all plain sailing for him and he had to fight back from losing the first set.

That was fight back was due to Woodhouse being the more consistent in the latter stages and Wilson dropping his standard. In Heta he may not get that drop off here as he’s a big scorer. ‘The Heat’ as Damon is known registers 180’s at a rate of 0.30 per leg which is much stronger than Woodhouse at 0.22 per leg.

My only worry would be that Heta in his previous attempts at Ally Pally has not looked 100% at ease. He’s a class operator however and he can frustrate Luke and claim the victory after a cagey start.

---

Brendan Dolan vs Callan Rydz

This game is very difficult to call between two players who’ve enjoyed a fruitful 2021. Rydz was twice a winner on the floor this year and enjoyed a good run to the Quarter Final of the World Matchplay in the summer.

He had a seasonal average of 94.78 coming into this event with a steady 180 per leg ratio of 0.24. He defeated Yuki Yamada in the opening round with the minimum of fuss 3-0 averaging 91.32, hitting six 180in just eleven legs.

He starts the slight underdog here against the 23rd seed Brendan Dolan, another player who’s been in the winners enclosure this year. He’s sped up his throw over the past 18 months and he seems to be reaping rewards of that.

He played well in this event last year losing to eventual champion Gerwyn Price in a last leg decider and he comes into this in form having reached the semi final of the Players Championship final beating both Gerwyn Price and Jose De Sousa en route.

His seasonal average is slightly better than Rydz at 95.66 and I think he may just win this one given Rydz did allow Yamada several opportunities at the double in Round One. He’s not and has never been a big 180 hitter so take Rydz to come out in top there.

---

Mensur Suljovic vs Alan Soutar

Soutar has hit the ground running this year on his debut season as a Tour Card Holder. He’s claimed some notable scalps throughout the year and in a tight betting heat he can push the seed Mensur Suljović all the way.

He came through his first round game against Brazilian Diogo Portela by virtue of winning a five set match 3-2. He made the brave decision to take on the crowd to some extent and that may have backfired slightly as he performed below what we’ve come to expect from him now.

If he adopts the same practice here then Suljović will have the full backing of the crowd. The likeable Austrian has been in and out of form this year.

We didn’t see him throw a dart between May and August but on his return in September he reached the World Cup of Darts final and the Gibraltar Darts Trophy before going on to reach the Quarter Final of the European Championships the following month.

He has then been a bit in and out of form since either performing very well and averaging 100+ or getting blown away, as his last two matches show best having been brushed aside by both Fallon Sherrock and Callan Rydz. You can never be sure which Suljović is going to turn up so take a chance on Soutar on the handicap.

---

José De Sousa vs Jason Lowe

The afternoon action concludes with ‘The Special One’ taking on the steady and reliable Jason Lowe.

The Portuguese star is an explosive talent who can produce spurts of power scoring that anyone would struggle to live with. He was miles ahead of anyone else throughout the Premier League on the 180 front and although he’s no longer the top player in that statistical field for the year he, along with Dimitri Van Den Bergh and Dirk Van Duijvenbode are clear in this respect.

His opponent from Cradley Heath in the West Midlands is a no nonsense type of player. No fancy shirt, he just gets up there and plays his normal steady game which is typically 92.98 based on his seasonal average.

Lowe is typically a big switcher to use Treble 19 and as a result he amasses 180’s at a rate of 0.17 per leg, half that of De Sousa at 0.34. Interestingly however Lowe went 180 crazy towards the end of his opening round comfortable victory over Daniel Larsson, hitting an impressive five in just ten legs.

He won’t be afforded the same amount of time here and will be under pressure. I think you’ll see him use the board more and De Sousa will win the 180 competition but Lowe could cause another huge shock here, like he did last year again Michael Smith.

---

Back the 3/1 Darts AFTERNOON acca below ⬇️

18+ please gamble responsibly

---

The EVENING acca ⬇️

Danny Noppert vs Jason Heaver

Jason Heaver probably falls under the same category as Jason Lowe in that you get no shenanigans with him, he just gets up there to play darts. He overcome Aussie Gordon Mathers 3-1 in the first round and although his average of 84.28 is nothing to shout home about he was steady and got the job done with plenty to spare.

He’s shown on tour this year that on his day he’s very capable. He reached the semi-final in Players Championship Seven earlier in the year. He wasn’t the worst of runs however but he took his chance and that’s what he might need to do here.

His seasonal average coming into the Worlds was 90.59, this leaves him with something to find here against former BDO World Championship runner-up Danny Noppert who’s averaging some six points higher at 96.51. The Dutchman is another player enjoying a good campaign. He’s reached a couple of Semi-Finals on the floor but it’s his exploits in stage that’s got fans talking of late. He had a superb run at the World Grand Prix, losing in the semi-final to eventual champion Jonny Clayton after defeating Michael Van Gerwen in the opening round. He then backed this up the following weekend by reaching the Quarter-Finals of the European Chamoiinship. His form suggests he’ll be too strong here.

---

Gabriel Clemens vs Lewy Williams

Welshman Williams is one of a string of impressive youngsters taking the sport by storm. He won his opening game 3-0 against the relatively unknown Japanese darter Toyokazu Shibata. After winning the opening set it was pretty much cruise control for him and there was a lot to like about his performance, he looked right at home on the big stage.

That was no fluke either, he recently played José De Sousa in front of the TV cameras at the European Championship and he pushed him close too, looking like he had him in trouble at one point.

Clemens is another player who can be hard to figure out. On his day he can beat anyone but he’s not one to trust at short odds on. He knocked out defending champion Peter Wright in this event last year to underline my previous point perfectly but then failed to get across the line versus Krzysztof Ratajski in the following round when losing a last leg decider in a match that neither player seemed capable of seeing through.

The German had the slightly higher seasonal average and despite some good performances he’s been a bit less underwhelming of late. He’ll start of favourite here but that means all the pressure will be on him. I can see a shock on the cards here and Williams also won their only match 6-4 earlier this year back in June.

---

Rob Cross vs Raymond Van Barneveld

The match of the night and arguably the match of the second round between two former World Champions.

We’ve already seen RVB in action and he was very professional in a routine 3-0 victory over Lourence Ilagan in the opening round. His silky smooth throw looked as good as ever and only 2% of his scoring darts were stray. He’ll be under much more pressure here against Rob Cross and it’ll be interesting to see if he can replicate that display.

He marked his return from ‘retirement’ by quickly winning a floor title but he’s not quite lived up to that on the big stage. He was eliminated early in the UK Open, failed to come through a tough group at the Grand Slam of Darts then lost in the second round of the Players Championship Finals.

Cross has been playing beautifully these past few months and his throw and performances is approaching the level he produced when he won this title.

A winner of the European Championship and a floor tournament in recent months he’s been notching up 100+ with regularity. I think ‘Voltage’ will end the Van Barneveld fairy tale here.

---

Chris Dobey vs Rusty-Jake Rodriguez

The final match before the festive break and we could be presented here with a top display of 180 hitting here.

Hollywood Chris Dobey has a knack of hitting a mammoth in average but running into a player playing out if the skin. In his most recent outing at the Players Championship Finals he hit ten 180’s in eleven legs of darts and his rate of 0.32 is just behind the the trio of elite stars in this respect. He’s won a couple of floor tournaments in the second half of the season and is a player that many will want to avoid.

Rusty-Jake also hit his share of 180’s in the opening round as he beat Ben Robb 3-1 in a decent contest, notching six maximums himself.

His average of 93.86 was very good and this has plenty of legs in it especially as you’d imagine it would have three to four sets. The call here is to go for both players to register a few 180’s.

---

Back the 3/1 Darts EVENING acca below ⬇️

18+ please gamble responsibly. All odds displayed correct at the time of publishing.