The Premier League darts event treads new ground on Thursday night when the roadshow hits Germany for the first time with week four of the competition coming from the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin.
We have had three weeks of the tournament and so the league table is starting to take shape and as we approach the halfway mark in the regular season every point is keenly sought after which should ensure we get a hugely competitive evening of arrers.
Michael Smith vs Simon Whitlock
In a strange twist of fate the two leaders open the night up although I dare say when the fixtures were getting put together for the evening these two were expected to bring up the rear. That is not the case though with Simon Whitlock leading Michael Smith on leg difference.
Both these men have been in excellent touch in the tournament so far. You would have to say they have both taken advantage of indifferent darts from their opponents too. Smith saw off a weakened Gary Anderson in the opening round of the competition while Simon Whitlock feasted on a poor Raymond Barneveld last week.
This looks a fairly even match. If I was going to give the edge to anyone it would be Whitlock who has a decent record in Germany but there isn’t enough in it either way for me to justify a bet.
Gerwyn Price vs Mensur Suljovic
Although he is listed as the away player this will be like a home match for Mensur Suljovic when he takes on Gerwyn Price in the second match of the evening. As an Austrian he is likely to have the crowd and he might need it because the Welshman holds a 7-2 career head to head lead over him.
Suljovic is the only player in the tournament without a point to his name so he will be desperate to pick up the win here. Price has no win yet but he has a couple of creditable draws and if he can pick up a win here he would be halfway to avoiding relegation. Price was in decent enough form at the weekend but you’ve got to think he’ll have the crowd against him here. Nothing really feels right from a betting point of view.
Michael van Gerwen vs Daryl Gurney
The third match of the evening could prove to be the most watchable one as the heavy scoring duo of Michael van Gerwen and Daryl Gurney do battle. Gurney will be ruing slipping up from 4-1 ahead last week to draw 6-6 while van Gerwen will be eager to join the front two on six points.
You would have to think that van Gerwen will win this. He was awesome in beating Gary Anderson last week and since then he has followed up with two wins in the Players Championship events so he is firing on all cylinders at the minute. That said he is priced accordingly and there isn’t much value anywhere especially with handicaps being tough to take with Gurney’s scoring power needing to be respected.
Rob Cross vs Raymond Barneveld
Two men who will be eyeing up places at the o2 Arena at the end of the season but who haven’t made the starts to the season that they would have liked meet in the penultimate match of the evening when Rob Cross takes on Raymond Barneveld.
It hasn’t really happened for Barneveld this season. He fought back from 6-3 down to Daryl Gurney for a draw on the opening week of the season and you thought he would kick on from there but despite beating Mensur Suljovic in week two he looked quite ordinary last week. Cross took a couple of weeks to get going but he finally picked up his first win last week and will be out to back that up here.
It might be that playing the world champion inspires Barneveld in this match but he could easily have three losses to his name and looked well out of sorts last week. He lost in both European Tour qualifiers since then so he can’t be feeling that great about his game. Cross can take advantage of that here.
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Peter Wright vs Gary Anderson
We end with the all-Scottish battle between Peter Wright and Gary Anderson in what is a big match for both men it has to be said. Wright goes into the night with three points from his three matches but he does have a victory over Michael van Gerwen to his name. Anderson beat Gerwyn Price in week two but lost both matches either side of that.
Anderson would have had two wins to his name had he not gone lame in the opening match and had Michael van Gerwen not been at his brilliant best he could easily have won all three matches. Wright has played some decent darts in this tournament but he has thrown some ordinary ones either side of his win over van Gerwen too.
I don’t think all is completely well with Peter Wright. He lost early in both Players Championship events at the weekend and has missed a batch of doubles in this tournament. Had it not been for that insane comeback at the Grand Slam of Darts he would have lost his last six against Anderson. Anderson will still be raging from that defeat and will want to make up for it here. I think he’ll win this one as long as he stays fit.
Tips
WON – Back R.Cross to beat R.Barneveld for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with William Hill
Back him here:
Back G.Anderson to beat P.Wright for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with Unibet
Back him here:
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