Ryan Joyce v James Wade
World Darts Championship – 3.30 pm
Sky Sports
A place in the quarter-finals awaits the winner of this clash at the PDC Darts World Championship 2018. Unfortunately, that quarter-final clash will be against world number one Michael van Gerwen. But that is something to worry about in the future. Wade is the 9th seed at the Worlds and he opened with a win over Japan’s Seigo Asada. Wade was pretty fired up in that one, getting all aggressive with his opponent. He then took out Keegan Brown in the second round. Both of those wins were only by a one set margin though for Wade. So I feel the three-time World semi-finalist could be vulnerable.
He takes on Ryan Joyce whose best performance in the tournament was a round of 32 berth in the 2017 edition. He took out Anastasia Dobromyslova in the first round. Then he caused an upset in the second round as he took out 8th seed Simon Whitlock in straight sets. He knocked off another ranked player in the third round by beating 25th seed Alan Norris. Joyce is the 12/5 underdog with the top bookmakers. But he’s shown pretty steady composure so far in what is first ever shot at the PDC World Championships after moving from the PDC this year.
Northampton Saints v Exeter Chiefs
Premiership Rugby – 7.45 pm
BT Sport
The Exeter Chiefs make a trip to Franklin’s Gardens on Friday night. While this isn’t the most difficult-looking fixture they have had, or will face this season, it’s a big one. That’s because of what happened last weekend. The Chiefs beat Saracens in a huge clash at Sandy Park. It was a battle for top spot in the Gallagher Premiership and Exeter came out on top. So now they are sat on top of the tree and it’s one of those situations where they have to knuckle down and just get a win. They don’t want to undo all of the great work they did a week ago.
Exeter are on a three-match winning streak against the Saints. But Northampton have only been beaten once in their last four games at Franklin’s Gardens. That’s in all tournaments. However, looking at the bigger picture, current Premiership bottom side Newcastle are the only ones in the division with a worse home record than the Saints have this season. The leading bookmakers have the home side as 7/4 underdogs. But can the Saints march their way to an upset? Complacency can be a humbling thing and the Chiefs will be hoping to avoid a case of that.
Jamie Lewis v Dave Chisnall
World Darts Championship – 8:45 pm
Sky Sports
I am staying with the darts because frankly, Friday is a bit devoid of sporting action. So we have to shop around a bit for my Bets of the Day for Friday. Not to take anything away from the darts of course which just keep me glued to the box and cheering along with the rowdy masses at the Ally Pally. One of the big games of the evening sees 28th seed Jamie Lewis go into battle with 12th seed Dave Chisnall. This is a match which caught my eye because it could be pretty evenly matched.
After beating Cody Harris in the second round, Lewis powered his way past 5th seed Daryl Gurney in the last round for a big upset. So that was a warning shot to Chisnall head of this clash. Chisnall took a one-set win in his opener over Josh Payne before powering to a 4-0 win over Kim Huybrechts. That was a very convincing display from him and he is odds-on at leading bookmarks to win this duel.
The winner of it will meet up with former World Champion Gary Anderson in the quarterfinals. His opponent Lewis will be remembered for his epic run in last year’s edition. He made the semifinals where he lost to Phil Taylor, but he took out then world number two Peter Wright along the way. Lewis created history last year in becoming the first player to start in a preliminary round to make it to the semi-finals. He’s not too far from making a return to the final four and goes as the 11/8 underdog in this clash with Chisnall.
