We move into the second phase of the Premier League Darts season on Friday night. Judgement Night has been and gone and we’ve seen the elimination of Rob Cross as a result of that, and now the eight remaining men will be eyeing up spots in the top four.
Just five points separate first and seventh heading into the second phase of the tournament so those semi-final places are literally there for the taking for nearly everyone. That is sure to give us plenty of dramatic and competitive action, particularly with the format now extended to the best of 14 legs.
Glen Durrant vs Gerwyn Price
The opening match of the second session sees two men who have been in decent enough nick since the resumption of play going at it when the league leader Glen Durrant takes on a Gerwyn Price who is in sixth spot but who is certainly not out of the reckoning.
Durrant has been brilliant this week. He has won two of his three matches and drawn the other and averaged well over 100 in all three of them so he is very close to the top of his game at the minute. Price got mullered in his first game back but has won the next two for the loss of just one leg so he is also finding some form, although his numbers haven’t been anywhere near as impressive as those of Durrant. I respect Price enough to not get involved here but I certainly wouldn’t be opposing Durrant if I was to bet here.
Peter Wright vs Gary Anderson
The eyes of Scotland will be on the second match of the night when the two Scottish players in the competition meet as the world champion Peter Wright takes on the man with whom he shares a stage in the World Cup in Gary Anderson.
Wright begins the night in second place in the table after picking up five points from the six available to him this week while Anderson is only out of the top four on leg difference after two wins from three, including a good one over Michael van Gerwen on Thursday night. Both these men are playing well and that should make for a decent enough contest but there is enough between them to be confident over who will win. That will probably come down to the timing of any missed doubles and I’m not really one for guessing on that. I’ll leave this one alone.
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Nathan Aspinall vs Michael van Gerwen
The only match that sees members of the top four heading into the night facing each other is the third one as third placed Nathan Aspinall goes up against fourth placed Michael van Gerwen for whom a few alarm bells are beginning to ring it must be said.
MVG returned to this competition with a win over Rob Cross but that form doesn’t look much right now and his losses to Glen Durrant and Gary Anderson won’t have done a whole lot to his confidence. Aspinall has picked up a couple of wins and a narrow loss to Daryl Gurney since the restart so he should be buzzing at the minute and he’ll fancy his chances here. You feel this is a huge game for van Gerwen who clearly isn’t enjoying the elements on show without the crowd and things. My gut feel is to take Aspinall but the prices are probably about right here and having won five of the six bets we’ve had since the competition came back, there is no need to push the boat out.
Michael Smith vs Daryl Gurney
The final match of the night sees two players who need to find a winning run if they are going to make the top four meeting when Michael Smith goes up against a Daryl Gurney who has done pretty well to still be here given the hole he was in coming back from the break.
Smith has been one of the best players since the restart but he has found a way to lose in two of his three matches. He’ll be pig sick that he lost to Nathan Aspinall on Thursday when he coughed up eight darts in the final leg to secure a draw and it will be interesting to see how he reacts to that. Gurney has won two of his three matches this week and wasn’t completely uncompetitive in defeat to Peter Wright on Thursday.
One thing which has been easy to spot with these two men is the number of doubles they are missing. Smith has been guilty of more this week but Gurney was missing bunches of them earlier in the competition. That puts me right off betting on the winner of this but seeing as though Smith has hit 18 180s this week in denominations of 7, 5 and 6, the 4.5 180s line on him looks a little on the low side considering the format has gone up now. It is hard to see a runaway winner here so we should get 12+ legs which if the week so far is anything to go by should be more than long enough for Smith to hit five more maximums, in what really is a glorified practice session for him when it comes to the scoring phase of the leg.
Tips
WON – Back M.Smith Over 4.5 180s for a 3/10 stake at 2.02 with 888sport
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