The second round of the World Matchplay concludes at the Winter Gardens on Wednesday night so here's our match-by-match preview and best bets.

The final four places in the quarter-finals will be sealed tonight, as the likes of Michael Smith and Gerwyn Price bid to keep their Blackpool dreams alive.

Here, we look at all four matches with seasonal statistics, predictions, best bests and an acca…

2pts De Sousa vs Cross to have over 17.5 legs, highest checkout over 116.5 and over 8.5 180’s at 11/8 (Sky Bet)

2pts Price to win, score over 4.5 180’s and checkout over 101.5 at 2/1 (Sky Bet)

0.5pts Either Michael Smith or Dirk Van Duijvenbode to checkout 170 at 16/1 (Sky Bet)

Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook

This year's UK Open winner Danny Noppert is emerging as a real threat in every big major event. He has won 70 of his 95 matches he’s played so far in 2022 and has reached the latter stages of numerous events.

In his opening game he defeated Brendan Dolan 10-6 with an average of 100.70 having trailed 6-4 at the second break. During that game he hit seven 180’s and that’s a part of his game that’s really developed this year. When you factor in he was 58.8% on his doubles too, it was one of the performances of that first round.

His seasonal stats have him averaging 94.94 for the campaign with a 180 per leg ratio of 0.28 per leg. His form has been good lately too. He’s won 12 of the 16 matches he’s played in July including a title on the floor a couple of weeks back. He’s also averaged 100+ five times in his last 15 matches. There’s a lot to like about Noppert.

He faces Dolan’s Northern Irish colleague in this second round match and the pair recently met at the World Cup of Darts in which Noppert won 4-2, making him lead the head-to-head 6-5, but more importantly he’s won the last six meetings between the pair.

Gurney defeated Gary Anderson 10-7 in the first round and the scoreline ended up being closer than it probably should’ve been. His performance wasn’t up to that of Danny as he averaged 92.25, hit five maximums and hit 33.3% of his doubles.

That was slightly below his updated seasonal data at 93.03 and a 180 per leg ratio of 0.28. Nevertheless he comes into this in decent form, winning eleven of his last sixteen games in July. He’ll pose a few problems for Noppert but you have to think on all known recent evidence it’ll be the seeded player who advances.

Predicted Scoreline: Gurney 7-11 Noppert

The 2019 World Matchplay winner Rob Cross dodged a real bullet in his opening round 11-9 victory against Chris Dobey. He fought back from 8-2 to show plenty of bottle but it was probably more a case of Dobey losing it rather than Cross winning it as he didn’t improve his standard a great deal to overturn the result.

His statistics from his opening match were an average of 90.52 – the lowest of these remaining players in the bottom half – three 180’s and a doubles percentage of 34.4%, struggling particularly on double 20.

The seasonal standard set by ‘Voltage’ suggests he’s better than that at 96.75 and 0.25 per leg especially when you consider he’s registered nine 100+ averages in his last twenty matches. Results wise though July hasn’t been the best month for him. He’s won just five of the 10 matches he’s played so perhaps he isn’t quite at the top his game currently.

Similar remarks were made about Jose De Sousa coming into this tournament. He’s has only won three of his eight matches in July and averaged less than 90 across the recent Players Championship series of events. He looked decent enough against Gabriel Clemens in round one however who was hammering in the 180s.

He won that one 10-6 with an average of 93.55, hit six 180s and his doubles efficiency was 43.5%. All very respectable and all better than that shown by Rob Cross in his opening match.

There has been a drop in standards in 2022 from ‘The Special One’ compared to the previous two years as an average of 94.33 suggests and his 180 per leg ratio is currently 0.31, good but some way below the ratio he was hitting in the early part of 2021. It’s also been sixteen games since he achieved a 100+ match average.

There’s not much between these on previous Head to Heads and it’s quite a tough call. The angle to take here is the Match Action Market.

Predicted Scoreline: De Sousa 11-9 Rob Cross

‘The Iceman’ dug deep to defeat Martin Schindler in the opening round by a scoreline of 10-8 but there were signs during the end of the game that he was beginning to really find his ‘A’ game, hitting 180s for fun in a terrifically entertaining encounter.

He averaged 99.78, hit eight 180s and doubled out at 43.5%. He needed to as his German opponent didn’t wilt, it was Price’s excellence that got him over the line.

He’ll be desperate to lift this one and add it to an already seriously impressive CV and if he can continue where he left off, he’ll be a threat to everyone. Impressive considering many weren’t tipping him up pre-tournament.

He has a 50% win rate in July and his seasonal average is 3 points down from last year at 96.44 but he is capable of special moments and raising his standard to a level that many can’t match.

‘Chizzy’ has been in blistering form of late. He’s won 20 of his 24 matches in July and he continues to be one of the big maximum hitters in the game at 0.32 per leg. His seasonal average isn’t too far behind Price either at 95.56.

He came through a tight game against Kim Huybrechts 10-7 on Monday night where both players struggled to hold throw. A late burst of three legs was enough to see him victorious. His average in that game was 94.56 but a 180 count of four was low for what we expect of him.

From the evidence of the opening round matches and their last five matches in head to heads where Price leads 4-1 you have to fancy Price to come out on top.

Predicted Scoreline: Price 11-7 Chisnall

The last match of night is arguably the best and we should witness an absolute maximum fest as two of the biggest 180 hitters in planet darts collide.

Both struggled early on in their first round matches to find the Red Bit but they found their range towards the end when they were filling it up with increasing regularity. It’s a good job they did as both had to find a bit extra to win, especially Smith who trailed Andrew Gilding 8-4 and looked in all sorts of trouble.

Smith ended up averaging 98.23 in an 11-9 success on Sunday afternoon, he hit six maximums, in fact what can sometime be his Achilles heel was his savour, his doubling success was 57.9%. Surprisingly it’s been sixteen matches since his last 100+ average but he still remains in form. He’s won eight of twelve matches in July and has a seasonal average of 96.63 and a 180 per leg ratio of 0.34.

Dirk actually recorded the highest average of the opening round at 103.61 as he defeated Ryan Searle 10-8. He didn’t hit a 180 until leg 10 in that match but ended up hitting seven in the last nine legs to underline his scoring power. He is currently the best 180 hitter on the PDC circuit at 0.39 per leg, making Smith’s ratio look normal.

He comes into this on the back of eight straight wins and five successive 100+ averages. The winner will fancy their chances of going deep in this one. The Head to Head strongly favours Smith at 9-2 and on titles successes on stage you’d have to think he holds sway slightly. The bookmakers appear to have this priced up just right.

It’s also worth mentioning that Smith has featured in a match involving a 170 checkout on five occasions this year and Dirk nine. The pace should be played to suit and you could a big fish landed here just like the last time they met in Players Championship 16 Final.

Predicted Scoreline: Smith 11-8 Van Duijvenbode