Darts Betting Tips: MVG to star in boosted double for Day 4

The Betfred World Matchplay is well underway and on Tuesday, we're into the second round matches. 

To celebrate our continued headline sponsorship, we've boosted our star darts tipster Sean Rafferty's selections and will continue to do daily throughout the tournament! Here are his Day 4 tips...

Michael Van Gerwen to beat Dirk Van Duijvenbode @ 8/15

Van Gerwen wasn’t exactly firing on all cylinders on Sunday but ultimately he done enough to see off Andrew Gilding without much fuss, a fixture that many thought could be a potential banana skin for him. Missing 22 darts at double, hitting only 31% of his intended targets on the outer-ring meant things were more difficult than they needed to be, MVG trailed 4-1 after the opening mini-session, but soon kicked into gear and done enough to get the job done.

Dirk was involved in an edgy but dramatic match against Chris Dobey, eventually edging out a 13-11 victory in a match he was priced up as the underdog in. The Dutchman rode his luck at times, surviving a total of four match darts from Dobey, with the Geordie only hitting 27.5% of his doubles. Credit where it’s due to Dirk though, he remained within touching distance and eventually punished Dobey for his mistakes. It’s a big win for The Titan as he’s not defending any ranking money having failed to qualify for this event two years ago, any wins this week will help him move closer to the top 20 again.

They’ve had a fair few tasty battles down the years but it’s normally been MVG who’s come out on top, with Mighty Mike leading 12-4 in the head-to-head. Van Duijvenbode has the unwanted tag of being one of the most inconsistent players on the tour and you never really know what sort of performance you’ll get from him these days. He could do with his doubles improving but as long as he does that I think the Green Machine will win this all-Dutch clash.

Stephen Bunting +0.5 most 180s handicap vs Josh Rock @ 8/11

This is a really intriguing match and one that probably will view with the intention of victory here seeing their season take lift-off. Their form lines have been very similar over the last 18 months - both had decent years in 2025, with things not coming as easy for the pair this year. Both of them struggled in the Premier League and it’s perhaps dented their confidence slightly. Rock has at least won a European Tour event this year and made the semi-finals of the UK Open, whereas Bunting hasn’t won a PDC event for almost a year now.

They had very different opening round matches as Rock breezed past Luke Woodhouse 10-4, despite a rather laboured performance. Rocky only averaged 90, despite hitting 53% of his doubles, only managing two maximums in a poor scoring display, but with his opponent hitting just 17% of his doubles it would’ve been harder not to win.

It didn’t take long for the tournament’s first sudden-death leg as Bunting fell over the line in a 13-12 victory over Niels Zonneveld. The Bullet had to survive match darts against the Matchplay debutant but dug in enough to seal a rare opening round win at the Winter Gardens. Both players will feel like they have to improve to progress in this one.

With neither player proving themselves reliable to win at the moment, the 180s were my main focus and I feel like there’s value in favouring Bunting - Stephen is averaging 0.31 180s per leg over the last six months, compared to 0.33 for Rock. So very little difference but Rock has been priced as favourite, Bunting +0.5 seems the safest approach to take, so essentially to win or draw in the most 180s market. Bunting led 6-3 in the 180s count in their UK Open meeting in March despite defeat in the match, a similar outcome here could well be possible.

You can load the boosted double straight to your betslip by clicking the banner below.

We've also got two more brilliant offers, which you can find below...

We're paying out on ANY player at the Betfred World Matchplay that has a 170 checkout or a 9-dart finish, whether they win or lose!