World Darts Championship Quarter 1 preview

Luke Humphries, the 10/3 second favourite to retain the PDC World Championship crown he won 12 months ago, will be the top seed at Alexandra Palace this time around.

The Newbury arrowsmith will take his place at the head of the draw in the first quarter but there are 23 rivals hoping to progress from the same quarter as ‘Cool Hand’.

Here, we take a look at how things may play out at Ally Pally.

Jermaine Wattimena to win quarter one @ 16/1

Humphries has won the World Matchplay and Players Championship Finals this season as well as being one half of England’s World Cup-winning team, but he has been a slow starter on more than one occasion this term.

The short format of the Grand Slam caught him out in Wolverhampton and the Newbury arrowsmith failed to qualify from a group containing James Wade, Mickey Mansell and Rowby-John Rodriguez.

Humphries fell behind to Stephen Bunting early in their Masters this season and was unable to recover, while it was more of the same against Jermaine Wattimena in the European Championship.

The propensity for sluggish beginnings has to be a worry for a player who is 5/6 to win the quarter and there are dangerous opponents in the section.

Wade is an experienced and capable campaigner, Mike De Decker is now a major champion, Damon Heta and Bunting are top-level performers and Wesley Plaisier brings unpredictable brilliance.

But the chief danger could come from Wattimena. The Dutchman destroyed Humphries 10-4 on his way to the final of the European Championship in October and the 36-year-old now appears to have the composure and consistency to go with his undoubted talent.

‘Machine Gun’ played in only seven Euro Tour events this season but made four quarter-finals and is inside the world’s top 16 in terms of Pro Tour averages this term.

Wattimena shouldn’t have too many issues getting past Stefan Bellmont in round one and a victory would set up a clash with Wade.

Humphries is likely to have to negotiate a path past Thibault Tricole and then former world champion Raymond van Barneveld, who is still performing at a decent level, and that could prove tricky considering the short set-play format at Alexandra Palace.

At the same time Plaisier, Heta, Bunting, De Decker, Luke Woodhouse and Connor Scutt will be scrapping away in the second section for the first quarter.

The 16/1 for Wattimena to progress from quarter one certainly appears to hold better value than the 5/6 on offer about Humphries or any of their section rivals.