Dirk Van Duijvenbode v Danny Noppert
The bookies cannot split the two Dutchmen in the darts match betting and it really is a difficult game to call.
Van Duijvenbode came through a tense high-quality encounter against Ryan Searle in the opening round and it was widely expected that the same would happen again in the second round as he faced the Number Three seed Michael Smith. ‘Bully Boy’ got off to a disastrous start however and could never recover. It was almost cruise control for Dirk and I’m sure he expected a much tougher assignment than that as he prevailed 11-7.
Unusually for him his maximum prowess wasn’t there as he registered just three but he did checkout the Big Fish 170 checkout for the seventh time this year. Smith underperformed and Dirk took advantage, simple as, with a 98.00 average. For the first time in six matches his average fell below the 100 mark.
In Michael Van Gerwen’s absence, these pair represented the Netherlands at the World Cup of Darts, reaching the Semi-Final. Noppert is actually the higher ranked of the two as the eleventh seed compared to Dirk’s fourteen.
He is enjoying a superb campaign and has won 74% of his matches which includes his UK Open triumph in which he defeated Van Duijvenbode in a very easy manner by a score of 10-2, averaging 99.05. The pair also met later that month when Noppert once again came out on top, this time 6-5 where both men averaged 105+.
Noppert is the only player in the field to have averaged 100+ in both his opening games in this year’s event and he blew away his opponent in the last round Daryl Gurney after racing into a 6-1 lead.
On the basis of all evidence I’m edging towards Noppert to come out on top but I’m going for Dirk Van Duijvenbode to average over 96.5. He’s beaten this mark in his last six matches and despite it seemingly not being a great performance he averaged 98.00 looking ordinary against Michael Smith.
Gerwyn Price v Jose De Sousa
Neither of these players came into this tournament in the best of form and were widely tipped to struggle. They have however proved many doubters wrong as both have beaten a German opponent followed by an English opponent to reach this stage.
The former World Number Champion and former World Number One has had to dig deep in both his games as he’s defeated Martin Schindler 10-8 and Dave Chisnall 11-8 with late moves being crucial in him closing out the victories.
Jose De Sousa on the other hand has hit the ground running in both games as he’s defeated Gabriel Clemens 10-6 and Rob Cross 11-8. He seems to have found his maximum hitting ability at just the right time with 15 in 35 legs, a rate of 0.43 per leg. His doubling has been good too at 45.65%. Has he said in his post-match interview in the latest round, he’s a dangerous player when both these facets of his game are on point.
Gerwyn Price will be desperate to get his hands on to this crown to add this to his trophy cabinet but he’ll need to get off to a good start here as De Sousa has looked settle on the Winter Gardens stage, aided by a quick start in his matches.
I can see a similar pattern follow here as Gerwyn Price has trailed after five legs in eight of his last eleven matches, if that happens then the Portuguese ‘Special One’ will give himself every chance but the late surges we have seen from the ‘Iceman’ and his exemplary checkouts in his latest game suggest this match could go deep.
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