Peter Wright v Daryl Gurney
World Matchplay Darts – 8.45 pm
Sky Sports
Peter Wright is the in-form player on the PDC at the moment. His hot streak of form has continued through the early rounds of the World Matchplay as well. He powered to a 10-5 win over Vincent van der Voort in the first round of action and then was even better in the second round. There he took an 11-2 win over 11th seed Simon Whitlock. Snakebite has the bit between his teeth at the moment for sure and he is the 2/5 favourite for this quarter-final tie. That will tick a lot of boxes for punters as one of the best bets of the day.
This match against Gurney will be Wright’s biggest challenge so far at the Winter Gardens. Northern Ireland’s Gurney is the third seed at the event. SuperChin collected a 10-7 opening win over Ricky Evans before edging past Keegan Brown 11-9 in the second round. Those were matches against unseeded players. Gurney was a recent semi-finalist at the Premier League of Darts and was in the final four two years ago the World Matchplay. He has been to the quarter-finals (no further) in his four of his last six tournaments. Gurney trails Wright 8-15 in the head to head.
Rob Cross v Stephen Bunting
World Matchplay Darts – 7.15 pm
Sky Sports
Former World Champion Rob Cross, number two seed at this season’s World Matchplay looks pretty hungry for success. It has been an easy passage through to the quarter-finals so far where he will face yet another unseeded player. He opened with a 10-3 win over Chris Dobey before taking out Krzysztof Ratajski 11-5 in the second round. So the challenges for Cross haven’t been stiff, but his three dart averages across the two matches have been good. He looks pretty sharp and goes at the 1/6 odds on favourite with leading bookies.
Cross arrived at the Blackpool Winter Gardens with some good results behind him. He reached the final of the UK Open and the final of the Premier League. This is the deepest that he has been in the World Matchplay, having failed at the second round stage in his two previous efforts. Stephen Bunting is also having his best World Matchplay tournament. His best previous finish was a second-round in 2014. The Bullet, a former BDO World Champion is 4/1 underdog for this duel. He has survived seven match darts against him in the tournament so far, in having beaten 7th Gerwyn Price and then Ian White. Will luck be on his side again?
VfB Stuttgart v Hannover
Bundesliga 2 – 7.30 pm
BT Sport
The first action from this season’s Bundesliga II happens on Friday night with Stuttgart playing host to Hannover. This is a big game for both of them because they were both relegated from the Bundesliga last term. So that was a huge disappointment for both. The fight to get back up begins in this heavyweight clash now. Last season Stuttgart took a big 5-1 home win over Hannover in the top flight and the leading bookmakers have them at 4/5 to win this one as well.
Both clubs have seen considerable departures of course, with players deserting to top tier teams elsewhere. Hannover lasted just two seasons back in the top flight of German football before taking their tumble. Die Roten only managed two away clean sheets and just one away win across all competitions last season. So on paper, this does look to be a tough season opener for them to handle. The bookies recognise that and have them as 10/3 underdogs for their trip to the Mercedes-Benz Arena.
Elgin City v Hibs
Scottish League Cup – 7.45 pm
BT Sport
There is a good game to come in the Scottish League Cup on Friday, with top spot in Group C still up for grabs. Premiership side Hibs are top of the group going into this final round of action. They have a two-point lead over second-place Arbroath so can’t afford to take their eye off the ball. If they lose this away game then Elgin will finish level on points with them and Elgin could go above them with a big enough margin of victory.
So Hibs realistically will be happy with a point in this one. Even if they only pick up one point and are caught by Arbroath, they will probably have done enough to get through to the second round as one of the best runners up. The leading bookmakers see clear favouritism and have the Easter Road men at even money to win to nil.
Elgin lost their opener against Arbroath but then earned a bonus point in a penalty shootout win over Alloa. Their one outright win in the group stage happened with a 2-1 success over Stirling. Considering Elgin finished bottom of their group without a point last season in the tournament, this has been some improvement.
