William Hill World Darts Championship predictions and PDC darts betting tips

PDC darts tips, best bets and player analysis for the 2022 William Hill World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace, London.

When to bet

Tournament starts 7pm Wednesday

Where to watch

Live on Sky Sports Main Event & Arena

Best bets

Ryan Searle
1pt each-way 40-1 Betfred

Rob Cross
1pt each-way 28-1 general

Krzysztof Ratajski
1pt each-way 50-1 general

Tournament preview

Christmas is coming, the crowds are back and the volume will be up to the max, all of which will be music to the ears of headbanging arrowsmith Ryan Searle who is poised to make an almighty noise at the 2022 William Hill World Darts Championship.

Where once upon a time Walking In A Taylor Wonderland was the Alexandra Palace anthem, brace yourself for a fair few renditions of Black Sabbath's Paranoid as Searle, the man they call Heavy Metal, powers his way deep into the tournament.

That walk on to the stage in the most prestigious tournament in darts in front of a crowd of thousands can be a highway to hell for many top darters.

But Searle is the sort of player who will take it all in his stride and looks absolutely the type of challenger who could be there for the final countdown come January 3.

If you're looking for a decent-price alternative to the market leaders Searle ticks plenty of boxes. So too does former world champion Rob Cross and also Krzysztof Ratajski, a trio of truly talented tungsten titans who can tear it up over the next fortnight in pursuit of the £500,000 winner's cheque.

You have to go back to 2011 for the last winner at odds of more than 16-1 – that was when Adrian Lewis got up at 33-1 – but this year's renewal looks properly competitive with no one stand-out performer and several of the big names in not entirely convincing form.

World number one Gerwyn Price is the man with the target on his back. Twelve months ago he landed World Championship glory for the first time in an empty room, spared the boos that usually follow him everywhere, a novelty he enjoyed. He won't get that luxury this time and he knows it – though he still looks the man to beat and the right name at the top of the book.

Michael van Gerwen, the 9-2 second favourite, has had an annus horribilis by his ludicrous standards and while he still represents a threat whenever he toes the oche, he has never been quite this inconsistent.

Peter Wright overcame a run of rotten results in the autumn to prevail at the Players Championship Finals and will use more barrels, stems and flights than anyone else over the course of the next week or so in pursuit of perfection and a second crown.

And Jonny Clayton has arrived from nowhere to be crowned the best player of 2021 by a mile. But could he be crowned world champ? And would you really take 7-1 about a player who has never gone beyond round three and is in a tough quarter? At least one of Price or Clayton won't be getting past the last eight.

All four are class acts and proven big-event winners but they are all 7-1 and shorter and lined up against them are a glut of players throwing high-90s and ton-plus averages in a field probably deeper and more talented than ever before.

Searle is fancied by plenty of judges and it's easy to see why.

The West Country hippy is up to 15 in the world on the back of a couple of excellent campaigns and boasts the ideal, relaxed stage demeanour which suggests he won't get fazed.

He clearly relishes playing at the Palace having twice reached round four in three visits. In eight matches on the Ally Pally stage, he boasts an average of over 94 and has won 24 sets compared to 16 lost.

Since the summer Searle has reached three floor finals – winning one – and reached the quarter-finals of the Grand Prix. And he warmed up for this by reaching the final of the Players Championship Finals in Minehead, where he was pipped 11-10 in a thriller by Peter Wright. Three of his triumphs had been in final-leg shoot-outs which also show he's got the bottle for those big moments which come along relentlessly in set-format darts.

Rob Cross was one of Heavy Metal's victims at Butlin's and Voltage is another on the shortlist. Forget his last-leg record for proof he's got what it takes, Cross won this title in 2018 so has the pedigree to go far again. After a lean year or so he's back and throwing beautifully, averaging 98.7 reaching the Grand Slam quarters having dotted up at the European Championships in October.

World number 12 Krzysztof Ratajski reached the last eight last year and can improve on that. A Matchplay semi-finalist in the summer, he signed off from the Pro Tour with a win last month so, like Searle and Cross, comes here in good form.

There's a field of 96 for this with Betfred notably offering each-way terms for four places.

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