2021 PDC World Darts Championship schedule: Wednesday evening session including Aspinall en Smith

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it's almost time for the PDC World Darts Championship Christmas break. The last session before the three-day break will see the likes of Nathan Aspinall and Michael Smith making their first appearance during this event.

Before we swap the bulls for turkeys, there are four delectable courses to tuck into for a pre-holiday treat. First among them is an all-English battle between Dave Chisnall and Keegan Brown. After doing a job on Ryan Meikle in round one, Brown will be trying to secure a World Championship third round place for a third time in his career.

Dave Chisnall's like a box of chocolates; you never know what you're going to get. And like a box of chocolates, he's often gone before you've had your fill - certainly at the World Championship, anyway. If he's on form, Chizzy can outscore any player in the world. But will we see it here? Brown won't hesitate to seal his fate if Chisnall doesn't fire on all cylinders.

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Jermaine Wattimena's last major outing, at the Players Championship Finals, saw a tournament average of over 105. Unfortunately for him, his run only lasted for two games, thanks to some inexplicable brilliance from Luke Humphries. Regardless, those Finals and the Winter Series suggest that the Machine Gun is fit and firing, which makes him quite the dark horse.

Nick Kenny is the one tasked with outgunning the dangerous Wattimena. In a nip-and-tuck first round game with Derk Telnekes, it was the Welshman who eventually landed the decisive doubles, which will give him a boost going into this one.

There are a few candidates for the pre-Christmas World Championship game of the tournament; Scott Waites 3-2 Matt Campbell has to be right up there. Campbell was excellent throughout and had Waites on the ropes. But you don't become a world champion without a lot of guile and more than a smattering of quality, and Waites' final set fightback really was something to behold. Scotty 2 Hotty really should've beaten Nathan Aspinall at the Players Championship Finals, but fluffed his lines. Now he gets another crack at it.

Aspinall's 2020 has seen him become a fixture in the big TV tournaments, most notably the Premier League, where he powered into the final on debut. After two successive semi-final appearances at the World Championship, the sixth seed will be desperate to take the next step. If he can hold Waites off, Vincent van der Voort lies in wait.

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Jason Lowe might have a bit of a 'Bah, humbug' demeanour on stage, but he'll be toasting a very merry Christmas if he can win the last of the round two games. He was much better than Dimitry Gorbunov, and sealed a first World Championship win without too much bother. He'll most certainly take up the role of underdog this time around.

Michael Smith appears in the final game before Christmas with the sole aim of still having a stake in the tournament when play resumes. The Bully Boy can win this tournament, and will be desperate to do it, but the first challenge is negotiating the second round, which he failed to do against Luke Woodhouse a year ago. Watching a fast-throwing, free-flowing Smith is always a treat, which would be the ideal way to pique the appetite ahead of darts' return on December 27.

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2021 PDC World Darts Championship schedule

Wednesday December 23

Evening Session (18:00 GMT)

18:10 Dave Chisnall v Keegan Brown (R2)

19:10 Jermaine Wattimena v Nick Kenny (R2)

20:10 Nathan Aspinall v Scott Waites (R2)

21:10 Michael Smith v Jason Lowe (R2)