PREVIEW PDC World Darts Championship: Paul Lim vs Luke Humphries rematch headlines Monday night at Ally Pally with title-hopefuls Gian van Veen & Nathan Aspinall in action

We have a fantastic night of darts in store for you this Monday evening at the 2026 PDC World Darts Championship in London. With title-hopefuls, a former world champion, and a 71-year-old darts legend, this session is packed with crowd-pleasers.

Gian van Veen is on first this evening. “GVV The Giant” takes on Alan Soutar. After that, Nathan Aspinall faces the eccentric American thrower Leonard Gates, before we get a cracking clash between Luke Humphries and Paul Lim. The final match of the night is between Charlie Manby and Adam Sevada.
Follow the 2026 World Darts Championship via our live scores!

He can at least put to bed the chatter that Gian van Veen had never won a match at the World Darts Championship. In a cracking tie he was too strong for Cristo Reyes, winning 3-1 in sets, with the reigning European champion certainly not being gifted anything. With a 98.91 average and a 41.7 percent checkout rate, the Poederoijen thrower came through his first test with distinction. Van Veen is now duty-bound to win his next match as well, which would also mean he reaches beyond the Christmas break at Alexandra Palace for the first time.

Few players spent longer on stage in the first round than Alan Soutar, though it was entirely unnecessary. The Scot led 2-0 in sets against Teemu Harju and was averaging close to 110. After the interval, however, Soutar dropped off sharply and the Finn fought back to 2-2 in sets. Harju even missed four match darts to beat Soutar, while “Soots” needed as many as sixteen match darts to finally get over the line.

Just over three years ago was the only time Van Veen and Soutar faced each other. At a Players Championship event, the Dutchman left the oche with a 6-2 victory.

Van Veen is currently eighth in the world rankings, and he will undoubtedly want to climb a few more places to boost his chances of a Premier League Darts spot. Soutar is set to rise a bit after this tournament anyway. Virtually, he has climbed from 54th to 51st. One more win, and Soutar will likely return to the top 50 of the PDC Order of Merit.

A patchy opener marked Nathan Aspinall’s start to his Worlds campaign. “The Asp” had to dig deep to avoid a deciding set against Lourence Ilagan, beating the Filipino 3-1 in sets. He did finish in style with a 170 checkout to win the match. His additional numbers were a 94.01 average, six 180s, and a 44 percent checkout rate.

Aspinall must brace himself again, because like Ilagan, Leonard Gates is also an unpredictable character on stage. Gates drove his opponent Mickey Mansell to distraction and beat the Northern Irishman 3-2 in sets. After that match, Gates already revealed his remarkable battle plan to take on Aspinall. “In the players’ room, I’m going to follow him. I’m going to shadow him. Just to let him know: my hand is in your pocket. Let’s have a drink, you know. I’m going to do something to disrupt him and knock him out of his rhythm,” he said. It surely won’t come to that, but Aspinall has been warned.

This matchup was also on the card last year in the second round of the World Darts Championship. Aspinall won 3-1 in sets then. The level wasn’t particularly high. Aspinall averaged 88, compared to 83 for Gates.

In recent months, Aspinall has been on a strong rise in the world rankings. “The Asp” has virtually climbed three places already and can now set his sights on number eleven Chris Dobey, who is already out in London. To do that, Aspinall needs to reach at least the quarterfinals.

After this Worlds appearance, Paul Lim already has another record to his name, as at 71 he is the oldest player ever to win a match at the World Darts Championship. “The Singapore Slinger” won 3-1 in sets in the first round against Jeffrey de Graaf. The Asian darts veteran posted a respectable 86.52 average.

That should still be more than enough to floor Luke Humphries. The world number two opened the tournament strongly by easing past Ted Evetts 3-1 and averaged 98.58 points per visit.

Even so, Humphries has been warned, because five years ago ‘Cool Hand Luke’ suffered a shock 3-2 sets defeat to Lim. That was before Humphries’ major breakthrough, however, and he has since collected eight major titles.

On the PDC Order of Merit, Humphries finds himself in something of a no man’s land. Number one Luke Littler is nearly seven hundred grand ahead of him, while number three Michael van Gerwen trails by over four hundred grand. Only if Littler goes out early can Humphries think about reclaiming the top spot.

A clash between two players without a PDC Tour Card, both of whom beat a Tour Card holder in the opening round. Charlie Manby enjoyed a fine World Championship debut with a 3-2 win over Cameron Menzies, although the post-match focus fell on Menzies after the Scot took his frustrations out on a table on stage. That does not detract from Manby’s performance, who threw a 90.62 average.

Adam Sevada took the North American showdown against Matt Campbell. ‘The Reaper’ averaged 88.29, which is certainly respectable for a debutant at Alexandra Palace.

This will be the first meeting between Manby and Sevada. To come away from this tournament with a PDC Tour Card, both players still have plenty of work to do. A quarterfinal berth at the World Darts Championship is required to break into the necessary top 64 of the world rankings.