Luke Littler 2nd Quarter Winner It’s hard to look past Luke Littler in Quarter 2 considering everything he has achieved over the last 12 months. ‘The Nuke’ burst onto the world darts scene with a thrilling run to the final at the 2024 World Darts Championship. He has gone from strength to strength since then, hoovering up multiple titles, including the Premier League and the Grand Slam of Darts. Now fourth in the PDC Order of Merit, Littler will be the top seed in his quarter of the draw. The teenage sensation should make no mistake in round two against either Fallon Sherrock or Ryan Meikle. If the market plays out to expectation, Littler would then face Ritchie Edhouse and Danny Noppert in the third and fourth rounds respectively. While the above-mentioned duo would pose a threat, Littler made light work of the pair at last month’s Players Championship Finals. Thereafter, Littler’s title credentials could face a stern test from Rob Cross at the quarter-final stage. However, the Warrington wonderkid can draw confidence from his head-to-head record with ‘Voltage’ this year, having triumphed in 8 of the overall 10 meetings. Thus, it's difficult to envisage anyone other than Littler coming through the second quarter. Michael van Gerwen to Reach the Final While Michael van Gerwen may not have lived up to expectations this year, but he remains a force to be reckoned with. The ’Green Machine’ has major tournament pedigree written into his darting DNA and he looks well placed to reach the final of this year’s World Darts Championship. The former three-time world champion contested the final of both the Masters and World Matchplay earlier this year, not to mention he finished as runner-up in one of the greatest finals ever staged at the Alexandra Palace only two years ago. The Dutch destroyer will be happy to have landed in quarter 4 of the draw, as he is guaranteed to avoid either Luke Humphries or Luke Littler until the final at the earliest. Things should run smoothly enough for van Gerwen up until round four where Gary Anderson is likely to be his biggest obstacle en route to the final. While it would be a mighty tough encounter to call, van Gerwen has a real knack for delivering determined and dogged performances when called upon. Should van Gerwen secure a last 8berth, the second-most successful player in the history of the event would be heavily fancied to reach the grand finale. Michael Smith to be Eliminated in the Fourth Round A strong challenge is expected from Michael Smith at this year's World Darts Championship but a lack of consistency could prove to be his downfall. There is no denying Smith is one of the most naturally gifted players to ever pick up a set of darts, but on current form it’s difficult to make a case for him to replicate his all-conquering 2023 triumph. Failing to emerge from the group phase at the Grand Slam of Darts and then suffering an early exit at the Players Championship Finals were just the latest two episodes in what has been an underwhelming year for ‘Bully Boy’. While Smith should still be streetwise enough to navigate a way through rounds 2 and 3, he could come unstuck thereafter. A potential round of 16 showdown with Chris Dobey would be fraught with danger. Smith was dethroned as world champion by Dobey at the exact same stage of the event last year, suffering a 4-0 hammering from ‘Hollywood’. The level of consistency that Dobey has demonstrated throughout 2024 has led to him being widely touted as a dark horse for World Darts Championship glory and he could send Smith packing for the second year running.

Rob Cross to Reach the Quarter-Finals Rob Cross reached the Semi-Finals last year before he was eliminated by Luke Littler. He is in the same quarter of the draw as ‘The Nuke’ again but that’s not our concern in this bet as we only need him to reach the quater-finals and they can’t meet before that stage. The big guns are always relieved to get through the opening round and he kicks off this year’s World Championship against either Scott Williams or Niko Springer, both of whom will provide a stern test for him over a best of five sets match. His likely opponent in the following round would be the young Dutch star Gian van Veen. At times he’s looked fantastic of late, but he was eliminated in his opening match last year by Man Lok Leung so that may be fresh in his memory. ‘Voltage’ has played all 16 TV events this season, outside of the pairs format of the World Cup and he’s reached the last 8 or better in 11 of them including the UK Open, the World Matchplay, the Grand Prix and the Grand Slam of Darts. That would be good enough for us here and the 2018 World Champion, will probably have that stage as his minimum target for this event again. Chris Dobey to Reach the Quarter-Finals If there’s one section of the draw that looks wide open it’s Quarter 3 and this is where our next selection is based, Chris Dobey. ‘Hollywood’ looks to have a relatively nice opener in either Stephen Burton or Alexander Merkx; whoever he faces you would expect him to advance. The number 15 seed could then face a blockbuster encounter with Josh Rock in the 3rd round but the young Northern Irishman has gone out relatively early in all the TV events he’s played this season and has a point to prove here. The big seed in Dobey’s section is ‘Bully Boy’ Michael Smith. He is under huge pressure in this event as he’s defending the £500,000 prize money from his 2023 triumph, an early exit here could see him plummet down the rankings. Dobey, of course, eliminated him as defending champion last year, by virtue of a ruthless 4-0 victory in the 4th round. That’s the stage they are set to clash this year with the winner reaching the quarters. Hopefully history will repeat itself and Dobey can reach the last 8 for a 3rd year running. Gary Anderson to Reach the Quarter-Finals Gary Anderson seems to be getting better with age. The numbers he has produced this year have him up there with Luke Littler and Luke Humphries, and are probably the reason he’s third in the pre-tournament betting behind the two Lukes. As you’d expect in an event of this stature he’s likely to have to navigate past some stellar names to reach that point and they don’t come much more stellar than Michael van Gerwen. Those two would be set to clash in round 4 but Anderson has got the better of him twice recently in two televised matches, and given what we’ve seen from both there’s no reason to suspect he can’t do it once again here. He could potentially face a stiffer test from Ross Smith in the third round as the big 180-hitter, on his day can be a match for anyone but you would have to say that he was probably playing better 12 months ago coming into this than he is now. He did reach the semi-finals of the Players Championship Finals in the most recent TV event but he faced a number of players who underperformed and he only had to play to a decent level to reach that stage. He’s not likely to get that lucky here with Anderson, who came within a whisker of beating Luke Littler in the Grand Slam of Darts semi-finals and there isn’t many who’ve been able to live with of late. The ‘Flying Scotsman’ should set the pace in Quarter 4.