Daniel Larsson can pile pressure on shaky Robert Thornton

Day six at Alexandra Palace
Sky Sports Arena, 12.45pm & 7.15pm Tuesday

Former Grand Prix champion Robert Thornton has fallen off the face of the darting planet in 2018 and can not be guaranteed to land short odds against Daniel Larsson in round one of the William Hill World Championship.

No longer in the world’s top 32, the Thorn is a confidence player who is unplayable when things are going well but hard to fancy during a rut. And this is quite a rut.

He has appeared twice on the telly this year and did not won a game at either the UK Open or the Players Championship Finals. Larsson knows that if he puts him under pressure Thornton is so brittle at the moment that he could easily snap.

Larsson is an experienced player with a world championship pedigree. He qualified by virtue of finishing a close runner-up to Darius Labanauskas in the Nordic rankings and that is solid form.

‘Rapid’ Ricky Evans gets his games done and dusted quicker than most, though he might not be able to brush aside Rowby-John Rodriguez in record time.

An Evans win looks most likely because the Englishman is throwing well. His blink-and-you-miss-it style has taken him to the final of the Dutch Darts Championship and he won two games in the last major prior to this event, averaging 99-plus against Jeffrey de Zwaan at the Players Championship Finals.

Rodriguez’s three trips to Alexandra Palace have ended in three first-hurdle falls, though he did take Dave Chisnall to a fifth set on his last appearance and is straight enough to be able to win a set, at least.

Daryl Gurney rounds off the evening against Ross Smith, who earned his showdown with the Northern Ireland star courtesy of a solid effort against veteran Paul Lim on Sunday.

• Steve Davies's William Hill World Championship tournament preview

Smith did well to hold it together against crowd favourite Lim and should feel more at ease against Gurney, who won the Players Championship Finals last month.

Superchin is a 180 machine while Smith’s neat and tidy throw also lends itself to a few maximums. It was close when they last met – Gurney prevailing 6-5 on the floor in September – and a drawn-out affair should see the 180s mount up.

Recommendations
D Larsson +1.5 sets
2pts 20-21 Betfred
R Evans to win 3-1 or 3-2
2pts 11-10 Betfred
Over 7.5 180s in D Gurney v R Smith
2pts 4-5 Hills

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