The second week of the Premier League Darts season sees the 10 players involved heading from Dublin to Cardiff for the latest night of action. Those who got off to winning starts last week will be looking to follow that up with another here while those who did not win their first match will be eager to do so this time.
The headline match of the night is the one between the world number one and world number two but all eyes will be on Gerwyn Price as he is the local lad playing a home match so to speak.
Michael Smith vs Daryl Gurney
The action gets underway with a battle of two heavy hitters as Michael Smith takes on Daryl Gurney. Smith won his first match and can put himself in a great position with another win here while Gurney was held to a draw last week and will be eager to get his first win.
These two met in a UK Open qualifier over the weekend and Gurney whitewashed Smith so the Englishman will not be lacking in motivation here. I don’t expect to see any whitewashes here. I fancy a much closer battle and a barrel load of 180s.
Smith hit three last week in a match where Anderson’s fitness issues distracted him as a friend of the Scot. He has more in him here while Gurney hit four last week. I fully expect to see these two class acts combine for more than 7.5 180s in this one.
Rob Cross vs Simon Whitlock
The world champion looks for his first win of February when he takes on Simon Whitlock in his second match. Rob Cross was well beaten by Michael van Gerwen last week and subsequently lost his first match in each of the three UK Open qualifiers at the weekend so he will be desperate for a win here.
If this was a couple of weeks ago I would probably have taking Cross to cover the 2.5 leg handicap given that he has the throw but he’s on a bit of a losing streak and to be fair to Whitlock he played very well last week so this suddenly feels like a no bet match this week.
Michael van Gerwen vs Peter Wright
The top two in the world rankings meet in the third match of the night when Michael van Gerwen takes on Peter Wright in the big match of the evening. Both men were unbeaten last week with van Gerwen seeing off Rob Cross and Wright drawing with Gerwyn Price.
These two competed in the final of this tournament at the o2 last year and it would be a brave man to bet against them meeting in the finale again this season. Wright seems to be having issues with the darts again so you’ve got to think van Gerwen will prevail in this one but the odds reflect that so I don’t really see an angle in here.
[the_ad_group id=”3624″]
Gerwyn Price vs Gary Anderson
The match the huge crowd at the Motorpoint Arena will be waiting to see if the penultimate match of the night where the local lad Gerwyn Price takes on a man who I think it is fair to say has little time for him in Gary Anderson.
Anderson successfully snatched defeat from deep in the jaws of victory last week amid his fitness issues and it remains to see how he is health wise here. Price came from 3-6 down to draw with Peter Wright on his tournament debut which was a fair effort.
I think Price has every chance of a result in this match. Anderson clearly is not fully fit and even if he is he is going to have a passionate crowd against him. Price will be bang up for this one and the even money that he secures a draw or wins the match is too big to ignore in light of any potential Anderson injury.
Raymond Barneveld vs Mensur Suljovic
The night concludes with the popular Dutchman, Raymond Barneveld taking on the debutant Mensur Suljovic in what should be a close battle for the points. Suljovic was narrowly beaten last week while Barneveld could only draw with Daryl Gurney so both will be eager for their first win.
These two have met in a couple of major semi-finals in the last five months or so with a win apiece and Barneveld only leads their PDC head to head 4-3 so there may not be a lot between the two. Suljovic averaged almost 10pts more than Barneveld last week and if that carries any significance the Austrian could be a good thing.
If Suljovic had the throw here I would go with over 11.5 legs as I expect this to be quite a close contest but with Barneveld having the throw the possibility of a 7-4 win in his favour is enough to make me swerve this one.
Tips
Back M.Smith vs D.Gurney – Over 7.5 180s for a 4/10 stake at 2.20 with Betfred
Back it here:
Back G.Price/Draw Double Chance vs G.Anderson for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with BetVictor
Back it here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2018
