World Matchplay Darts 2024 Betting Tips: Clayton to display consistency against RVB

The 2024 Betfred World Matchplay gets underway on Saturday, July 13, and you can follow all the action via Betfred Insights through daily prediction pieces.

Our star Darts tipper Sean Rafferty delivered his outright World Matchplay predictions yesterday, and today he’s back with his World Matchplay Darts 2024 betting tips for day one of the event.

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Jonny Clayton to beat Raymond van Barneveld @ 8/13

I believe Jonny Clayton comes into this showing his best form for at least 18 months. Since the end of May, Clayton is second in the averages list for world darts, with 98.16. In the same timescale, Raymond van Barneveld is 32nd on the list with 93.3. So, Clayton is enjoying the richer vein of form and looks to be getting his confidence back after a tough spell on and off the oche.

The Ferret’s last three events read as follows: winner, quarter-finals, final. The consistency is back and despite a generally poor record at the Winter Gardens, he comes here with good recent memories after a great run to the final this last year.

There’s no denying Barney has done ever so well to break back into the world’s top 32 again after coming out of retirement. But consistently finding form in the major televised events has been a chore for him.

Since 2021, Barney has only made one semi-final and one quarter-final in 16 televised event appearances. His Matchplay record doesn’t particularly make for great reading; in 13 appearances, he’s gone beyond the quarter-finals just once and hasn’t ventured beyond the last 16 in any of his previous eight Matchplay outings.

This could well be tight but Clayton, I think, can keep up a high level for a far longer period than Ray can nowadays. 8/13 is more than a fair price for Clayton to win and if he can bang the 140 visits in that he’s renowned for then he shouldn’t have an issue seeing off RVB.

Luke Humphries -3.5 legs handicap vs Ricardo Pietreczko @ 4/7

This selection was a bit of a no-brainer from the start, as soon as the draw was made. Unfortunately, Luke Humphries has shortened up in this encounter odds-wise but I still think he’s worth backing to run out a comfy winner.

Ricardo Pietreczko isn’t playing the same darts as he was last year – he isn’t managing consistently big runs on the Euro/Pro Tours this time round. In 2024, Pikachu sits way down in 108th with a below 89 average. Compare this to Humphries, who sits top of the 2024 averages with just shy of 99. There’s an 11-point gap in averages over the past six-plus months for the pair, showing a substantial gulf in class.

Pietreczko did prove a tricky opponent for Cool Hand last year, which included a 4-3 win for Humphries at the World Championship, where Pietreczko led 3-1 in sets at one point. However, as I touched on Pikachu hasn’t maintained that level of last year. If Humphries can stick around that high 90s/ton-plus average then I think he wins at a canter, against an opponent who has never gone further than the fourth round in eight televised events.

Offers

Betfred World Matchplay (13/07 – 21/07): We are playing 4 places on the Betfred World Matchplay at 1/4 odds. (Available from 12:30 Thursday 04/07).

Betfred World Matchplay (13/07 – 21/07): We will be Top Price or joint Top Price on Luke Humphries to win the Betfred World Matchplay Darts with selected bookmakers using oddschecker.com for the comparison (Available from 09:30 Friday).

Betfred World Matchplay (13/07 – 21/07): Bet on any player to win the Betfred World Matchplay Darts, and if they win and hit a 9 Dart Finish during the tournament, we’ll double your odds!

You can find all our darts tipster Sean Rafferty’s latest Darts Betting Tips on our main Insights content hub.