World Matchplay Darts Preview – July 26th, 2019 at 9.00 pm
This is probably going to be an explosive quarter-final at the World Matchplay. Peter Wright is bang on top of his game at the moment and looking like the one to beat at the Winter Gardens. It’s been powerful stuff from him so far. But he will get a scrap from SuperChin who rolls up as the tournament’s third seed.
Peter Wright v Daryl Gurney Odds*
Peter Wright 2/5
Daryl Gurney 2/1
* (betting odds taken from bet365 on July 25th, 2019 at 7:31 pm)
Can Snakebite stop Gurney in the quarter-finals?
With three titles earned in the week preceding the World Matchplay 2019, it was Scotland’s Peter Wright who was coming in hot. Snakebite hasn’t missed a beat in Blackpool so far, easing his way through the first couple of rounds. His scoring over the last fortnight has been astounding. Wright beat Dutch challenger Vincent van der Voort 10-5 in the first round of this tournament and then followed that up by touching Simon Whitlock 11-2.
Against Whitlock, Peter Wright pounded out a 103.11 three dart average, the highest scored across the first two rounds of action from all players. The victory over the Wizard was his 20th match win in a row and this is the fifth time in a row that he has been in the quarterfinals of the World Matchplay. It has been dominant stuff from him so far and he just doesn’t show any sign of slowing up yet. He looks as if he can ride this powerful wave much further.
Head to head
Peter Wright is 15-8 up in the head to head against Gurney. The Scotsman took a win in the last meeting between the two players, collecting an 8-6 success.
Can SuperChin rise to the challenge against Wright?
It hasn’t been quite as smooth of a ride for Gurney at the World Matchplay as it has been for Wright. He was challenged hard in the second round against Keegan Brown. SueprChin got over the finish line with an 11-9 victory, but the number three seed had to sweat in that one. That is the second time in his career that Gurney has made it to the quarterfinals of the World Matchplay. He missed a lot of shots at doubles in the early stages of his match against Brown.
In the first round he had taken out Ricky Evans 10-7 and he has been knocking off the 180s. He is the tournament’s top scorer across the first two rounds for maximums tallied. It has been 17 for him in two matches. His finishing just don’t look quite as sharp as it needs to be. If it was he probably would have had a far more comfortable ride through to the quarters than he has. Still, trials and tribulations are character building. Can he stop the hot momentum of Wight?
Predictions
Snakebite is just scoring for fun and isn’t having the issues with finishing that we have seen from Gurney so far. This could be a just a great ding-dong battle, built it has to be Wright who takes favourites because of the momentum. Expect this to be a high scoring scrap with plenty of maximums around. Wright -3.5 handicap at 10/11 odds* (betting odds taken from bet365 on July 25th, 2019 at 7:31 pm).
