World Darts Championship day nine predictions and PDC darts betting tips

Darts tips, best bets and player analysis for day nine of the 2023 PDC World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace, London.

Where to watch

Sky Sports Arena & Main Event, 12.45pm & 7.15pm Friday

Best bets

Martin Lukeman 7.15pm
2pts 11-8 bet365, Coral, Ladbrokes

Scott Williams +1.5 3.45pm
2pts 5-6 Coral, Ladbrokes

Rob Cross v Scott Williams over 9.5 180s
1pt Evens Betfair, Paddy Power

Ross Smith v Darius Labanauskas over 7.5 180s 2.45pm
3pts 11-10 Paddy Power

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World Darts Championship day nine preview

Martin 'The Wall' Schindler has been demolished too easily on the Alexandra Palace stage before and Martin Lukeman can reduce him to rubble once more on the final pre-Christmas card of the PDC World Championship.

Day nine at Ally Pally sees the completion of round two before a three-day break, the lucky 32 returning on the 27th to get stuck into the business end of the competition.

Lukeman has every chance of being in that elite group by landing 11-8 odds against Schindler.

The German's record at the Palace is poor. On each of his previous visits he has started in round one and each time he lost, to Simon Whitlock, Cody Harris and last year to Florian Hempel.

He's seeded 29 this year so has at least swerved a possible first-round fall. And clearly to get to that standing he's done something right over the course of the year, including three European quarter-finals, four Pro Tour semis and one runner-up spot.

But while he looks good on the floor he has never convinced on the stage where Lukeman looks a natural.

It has been a great year for Lukeman, who reached round four of the UK Open in March – losing 10-9 to Clayton – and a few weeks later beat Schindler en route to the final of the German Grand Prix.

The Watford ace is flying up the rankings and even though this is his debut at the Palace, he's won more matches here than Schindler having whitewashed Nobuhiro Yamamoto in his opener and the crowd will be right behind him.

Scott Williams, who topped the Challenge Tour rankings with five wins, has set up a mouthwatering tussle with his good friend Rob Cross, and it should be close.

Certainly Williams is worth a punt on the handicap against the 2018 champion and expect a barrage of 180s as well.

These two are prodigious hitters of the treble-20 bed, Cross averaging a maximum every 3.9 legs on the Pro Tour in 2022, Williams one every 3.3.

And if you thought those were floor-only figures, then consider that Williams chucked in ten in his four-set win over Ryan Joyce in round one. Just imagine what he could have chalked up had that gone the distance, which this game could quite easily.

An even better 180s bet is over 7.5 in the dust-up between Ross Smith and Darius Labanauskas. No one has hit more maximums than Smiffy over the back end of 2022 – he averages one every 3.1 legs on tour – while rock-steady Labanauskas chipped in with a couple of his own in round one, so can play his part.

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