Thursday's World Darts Championship tips: The Iceman returns, Bunting to star again and Humphries dominance

As the darting action continues, the world's biggest stars are coming to Alexandra Palace like London buses, you have the tedious Christmas break to wait, but when it's over they come in their droves.

On Thursday it's no exception, with two of the top five seeds in action alongside stars of the pre-Christmas action.

So it's time to put the tubs of chocolates away and move our attention to what looks set to be a thrilling day of tungsten tussles.

 

Thursday's match schedule

 

Afternoon Session

Florian Hempel vs Stephen Bunting

Joe Cullen vs Ryan Searle

Ross Smith vs Chris Dobey 

 

Evening Session

Gerwyn Price vs Brendan Dolan 

Luke Humphries vs Ricardo Pietreczko

Ricky Evans vs Daryl Gurney

 

Our first betting selection concerns a match between two players who impressed on the Ally Pally stage before the Christmas break- Florian Hempel and Stephen Bunting. 

Hempel stunned the competition by knocking out one of last year's semi-finalists, Dimitri Van den Bergh, in a brilliant 3-2 comeback win after finding himself 2-0 down.

Bunting was in scintillating form as he whitewashed Ryan Joyce, The Bullet averaged a tournament-high of 107.28 in the match, while he also hit five 180s in the match. 

Despite Hempel's brilliant second round win, which included a 151 checkout to keep himself in the match, Bunting should be too hot to handle here and we're backing him to win in under 5.5 sets.

Our second selection comes in 2021 champion Gerwyn Price's clash with Brendan Dolan.

The Iceman looked in good form in his second round victory over Connor Scutt, as he only dropped two legs across the entire match, which was over in a flash.

Dolan came through a sudden-death decider with fellow Northern Irishman Mickey Mansell in the second round, which was one of the most dramatic games of the tournament so far.

Dolan hit four 180s and averaged 95.13 in the victory, but in his opening match, Price had a higher average of 98.01 and hit five 180s in his victory. 

In what is sure to be a thriller, Price has the edge over Dolan, beating him six times during their 10 career meetings, with Dolan winning four.

We think the way to go in this match is Price to win with under 7.5 180s.

Our final selection is in pre-tournament favourite Luke Humphries' Ally Pally clash with German Ricardo Pietreczko.

Humphries was disappointed with his performance in his second round win over Lee Evans, but he is still considered as being one of the best players in the world on current form, with his average of 101.87 over his last 200 legs prior to the tournament being the best in the world.

Having won the World Grand Prix, Grand Slam of Darts and the Players Championship in recent months, Humphries has been hitting 180s for fun and he has won all three of his career meetings with Pietreczko, so he'll be confident of progression.

Despite a good win against number 30 seed Callan Rydz, Pietreczko will struggle to put up a fight against Cool Hand Luke.

Luke Humphries to win with over 7.5 180s and highest checkout is definitely worth a punt given the world number three's form.

 

Suggested bets

Stephen Bunting to win in under 5.5 sets

Gerwyn Price to win with under 7.5 180s

Luke Humphries to win with over 7.5 180s and highest checkout