World Matchplay Race with two events before cut-off: Dave Chisnall looks set to miss out for first time in 15 years as Michael Smith and Peter Wright both miss the cut

The World Matchplay race continues on towards the final two events which will take precedence in just over a week in Leicester between 6-7 July.

Dave Chisnall has played every single edition of the World Matchplay since he joined the PDC and has been in the tournament since 2011. But his run like many others seems to be coming to an end. He sits just over £5k outside the spots and is just outside the top 16 for the ProTour.

Damon Heta is currently in the 16th and final spot which in itself is semi surprising for the Aussie Heat who usually figures quite highly in the ProTour rankings in years gone by. But he, Cameron Menzies, Daryl Gurney, Joe Cullen and Ryan Joyce will all just about squeak in through this route.

Others who will miss out only just currently include Kim Huybrechts who since it looked like he would fight for his Tour Card has had a real renaissance and sits also in position just behind Chisnall. But likely he would need a title or two late runs to trouble the top 16. While Sebastian Bialecki who continues to thrive as well as Karel Sedlacek and Jeffrey de Graaf seemingly will only just miss out.

Topping each Order of Merit is Luke Littler as expected who is defending champion as well as fellow former winner, Luke Humphries. Michael van Gerwen who has won it three times as well as former champions James Wade, Gary Anderson and Nathan Aspinall also figure in the seeds.

As do the likes of Jonny Clayton, Gerwyn Price, ProTour king Wessel Nijman and Ross Smith. Aspinall looks secure in 16th with Wattimena not yet circling.

Rob Cross at some point looked like he would miss out. But having kicked into gear as of late is now sixth in the ProTour standings where it looked likely he would miss out before based off the main Order of Merit. Luke Woodhouse who has won multiple titles really opening the floodgates like Wessel Nijman has in 2026 leads the ProTour efforts.

This alongside Kevin Doets who has been a fellow high flier alongside Niels Zonneveld further down who has had a terrific season really anchoring Dutch hopes aside from MVG and Van Veen. Others to seal spots include Andrew Gilding, Krzysztof Ratajski, William O'Connor, Niko Springer, Martin Schindler and Dirk van Duijvenbode.

O'Connor makes his debut as do Doets and Zonneveld. But others to miss out alongside Chisnall include Michael Smith who won't make the cut currently. But unlike Smith, former winners Peter Wright and Dimitri van den Bergh certainly won't as they are now out of contention. Mike de Decker too also looks unlikely to qualify so three Belgians will likely miss out.

Raymond van Barneveld is also a high profile absentee and it seems like we are heading towards a changing of the guard with players previously at the top of the game now not receiving those spots anymore and new players like Woodhouse, Nijman, Doets and Zonneveld leading the charge.

(as per dartsrankings.com)