World Darts Championship day seven predictions and PDC darts betting tips

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

Where to watch

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

Best bets

William O’Connor to beat Gabriel Clemens 8pm
2pts 4-5 general

Dave Chisnall to win & most 180s v Andrew Gilding 3pm
2pts 20-21 bet365

Over 4.5 sets in Callan Rydz v Josh Rock 2.15pm
1pt 9-4 bet365

World Darts Championship day seven preview

Day seven at the Alexandra Palace sees the introduction of three-time world champion and tournament favourite Michael van Gerwen, and the Green Machine is unlikely to have many problems against opening opponent Lewy Williams.

Welsh youngster Williams wired double 12 for a nine-darter in his 3-0 rout of Niels Zonneveld in round one but was put under little pressure, but it could be a different story when he takes on the red-hot MvG.

Van Gerwen has looked back to his brilliant best this year, highlighted by his recent Players Championship Finals title in which four of his six wins were capped off by a 100-plus average.

But even a 3-0 win for Mighty Mike is priced accordingly at 8-15 so there may be better value to be had elsewhere on the card, starting with William O’Connor to bring down giant German Gabriel Clemens.

O’Connor coped extremely well with the pressure he found himself under in round one against Beau Greaves.

There was plenty of noise surrounding 18-year-old women’s world champion Greaves making her Ally Pally debut, while a vocal crowd were understandably giving her their full support too.

Plenty have wilted in similar situations against Fallon Sherrock in the past but O’Connor stood tall to whitewash Greaves 3-0, which concluded with an average of 94.26.

There were some missed early doubles but that was to be expected given the circumstances and having that match under his belt could count for plenty against Clemens.

The German 25th seed heads to Ally Pally under a cloud having won only four of his last 13 matches on the floor, with three of his victims ranked outside the world’s top 100.

Some of those recent defeats in Players Championship events have come against Ricardo Pietreczko, Jason Heaver and Kevin Doets. And while the Worlds are a different experience entirely, those losses highlight Clemens's recent vulnerability.

Dave Chisnall, who was a semi-finalist two years ago, gets his campaign underway against Andrew Gilding and the world number 12 should find a way to come out on top.

Goldfinger made hard work of seeing off Robert Owen in round one, as he won 3-2 with an average of just 88.43 and managed only three maximums.

Those numbers are unlikely to cut it against Chizzy, however, and with the seeded player expected to be busy in the 180s, take him to prevail and hit more maximums at a shade of odds-on.

Arguably the most interesting tungsten tussle of the day is Josh Rock’s second-round showdown with Callan Rydz, and it shouldn’t disappoint.

All the hype is surrounding world youth champion Rock, who is already a winner on the PDC Tour despite this being his debut season.

But Rydz, only three years older at 24, is another potential star of the future and he was a World Championship quarter-finalist last year so has shown he can thrive in this environment.

Rock is the resounding favourite but quotes of 1-3 seriously flatter him against someone with the scoring power of Rydz, suggesting this has all the makings of a thriller.

Rock came past Jose Justicia 3-1 in round one, averaging 93.36 and grew stronger as the contest went on. But Rydz represents a step up in calibre of opposition and he can take this the distance.

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