Glen Durrant's PDC World Championships Tips: Can Luke Littler go all the way?
By Glen Durrant
Latest Darts Odds29 December 2023
The PDC World Championships reaches the Last 16 stage and we have witnessed everything from the sublime to the ridiculous.
Sixteen-year-old Luke Littler has received all the headlines with stunning performances against Christian Kist, a former World Champion, Andrew Gilding, the reigning UK Open Champion, before brushing aside Matt Campbell to sensationally set up a potential last 16 match with 5 x Champion of the World Raymond Van Barneveld.
The Early Rounds
Early casualties included the charismatic two-time champion Peter Wright after a disappointing performance over 'The Quiff' Jim Williams.
The experienced and much fancied James Wade lost to Campbell in the section of the draw that included Wright to open up for a potential surprise quarter-finalist.
Nathan Aspinall was incredible in winning the World Matchplay in Blackpool this July, but not much has gone right since and an opening match loss for him against Ricky Evans was a real setback for the likeable Aspinall.
The seeds continued to tumble with the former UK Open Champion Danny Noppert surprisingly losing to Scott Williams who has grown in stature as the competition has progressed.
Dirk van Duijvenbode, seeded 12, has had a year to forget with injury and his woes continued in defeat to 'Big' Boris Kcrmar.
Dimitri Van Den Bergh was in total control of his match against Florian Hemel before the German went into overdrive to add to the list of shocks.
Little did we know the biggest shock of all was still to come as the Last 32 neared its conclusion when Gerwyn Price, my tip for the title, lost to Brendan Dolan. The gritty man from Northern Ireland celebrated a famous win.
The Last 16
We look forward to the Last 16 at the Ally Pally jamboree with the first section going as planned. I predicted a Michael Smith revival with a potential blockbuster with the impressive Chris Dobey and that's how it's worked out, but many knowledgeable dart fans will predict a win for the Geordie as he continues to pummel the treble 20 producing staggering numbers, his game against Ross Smith was an absolute classic .
Can Smith beat Dobey and set up a quarter final game against Rob Cross who will need to beat Jonny Clayton or Krzysztof Ratajski to set up that mouth-watering clash
In the next section 'Boy Wonder' Littler will face the winner of Barney or Williams with the whole darting world gripped by the success of a player that has only just left school. The success of Littler has been based on incredible skills of a player so young but the demonstration of phenomenal maturity with all the attributes of a seasoned professional, it's been breathtaking to witness and the sport of darts has benefited greatly from his presence.
Can he do the unthinkable?
Gary Anderson has quietly but effectively got on with the job, remember he's a course and distance winner at Alexandra Palace and with Price no longer in that section of the draw the much fancied Scotsman could go all the way.
In the third quarter, we could have the best last 16 match of the tournament as Michael Van Gerwen plays the wonderfully talented Stephen Bunting who is simply in the form of his life and produced the tournament’s highest average so far.
In the lower part of the MVG / Bunting draw Scott Williams will play either Australian Number 1 Damon Heta or surprise package to many in Berry Van Peer who beat the much talked about Josh Rock.
Luke Humphries was favourite before a dart was thrown but has not produced the darts that took him to the World Grand Prix title quickly followed by the Grand Slam of Darts and Players Championships finals in fact, he was staring defeat straight in the face when being behind for much of his match against Ricardo Pietreczko.
Humphries will play Joe Cullen in the last 16 after he beat Ryan Searle in a competitive match that flip-flopped one player to the other. The Yorkshireman won't fear the man of the moment with this match being another intriguing contest.
In the final section of the draw Dave Chisnall will play either Daryl Gurney or Ricky Evans.
The tournament for many players begins now with more twists and turns than a fairground ride.
There are so many questions left to answer and I can’t wait, one thing is for sure though, I won’t be missing a dart.
Recommended Bet
Back the winner of Michael van Gerwen v Stephen Bunting to win it all.