The Premier League Darts season is hitting a pivotal stage and we have another night of action inside the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes on Thursday evening which could be huge in terms of who will and won’t make it to finals night.
The league table has been congested throughout the competition and that remains the case heading into night 14 of the 16 regular season sessions. The likes of Michael van Gerwen and Gerwyn Price sit outside the top four and are under real pressure for the remainder of the week.
Gerwyn Price vs Daryl Gurney
It is a huge night for Gerwyn Price but he takes on bottom of the pile Daryl Gurney, the only man who can no longer qualify for the play-offs in a match the Welshman simply has to win if he is to keep his top four hopes alive and realistically possible.
Price won’t need telling that he missed too many doubles on Wednesday night in a critical loss to Nathan Aspinall and he can’t afford that here. Gurney lost to Gary Anderson on Wednesday but he put in a decent performance and if he can repeat that display here then he would have a chance on that showing. Gurney is playing under no pressure which could be extremely significant here and I wouldn’t be surprised if he picks up a result here but he doesn’t win enough to justify a bet.
Gary Anderson vs Michael Smith
The master meets the apprentice in the second match of the night when Gary Anderson will look to all but secure his top four place when he goes up against a Michael Smith who is probably going to need to win his last three matches in order to make it into the knockout stage.
Smith will still be kicking himself that he let a 7-2 lead turn into a 7-7 draw against Glen Durrant on Wednesday while Anderson almost did the same in an n8-6 win over Daryl Gurney on the same night. The point there is that neither of these two are looking overly convincing when it comes to finishing matches off at the minute so betting on the outcome has to be considered a risky business to me.
A much safer bet would look to be over 8.5 180s. These two hit 12 of them between them on Wednesday in their respective matches, with Anderson hitting seven and Smith five. Smith is the leading 180 hitter in the tournament and when these two met in the reverse fixture there were 10 180s in 10 legs. Given that we are likely to see more legs here the over 8.5 180s should land.
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Peter Wright vs Nathan Aspinall
The only match of the evening that sees both players in the top four clashing is the penultimate one as the world champion Peter Wright takes on the man who is still on debut in this tournament in Nathan Aspinall.
Both men might start the night in the top four but there is still no room for either to lose the game as the chasing pack are hunting in numbers. That means there is going to be pressure on both these men. Aspinall has been missing a lot of doubles in recent times and I’m uneasy about backing him as a result. Wright has played much the better of the two throughout the tournament and deserved a win over van Gerwen on Wednesday evening but often there is a comedown from that and Wright doesn’t win as many matches as his fine displays deserve so I’ll sit this one out.
Glen Durrant vs Michael van Gerwen
The big match of the night is undoubtedly the last one of the evening when the table topper Glen Durrant takes on a Michael van Gerwen who is in great danger of missing out on finals night if he doesn’t get something from this match.
A lot will be made of the fact that Durrant has never lost to van Gerwen but there is actually something in that because the veteran stops MVG getting into the rhythm that he likes to get into, and the fact that the Dutchman referenced that prior to their first meeting this season shows that it has got into his head. This might well be MVGs time though. His professional pride will bring out a much better performance than he gave on Wednesday and Durrant will readily admit he has ridden his luck recently.
There is an air of a feeling of complacency coming in for Duzza which is understandable given that he has qualified and if he is out of sorts here I still think MVG is good enough to take advantage. This might not be vintage MVG and he might have to fight and show how much he wants it but I can’t ignore the solid odds against price on the Dutch star here.
Tips
Back G.Anderson vs M.Smith – Over 8.5 180s for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with BetVictor
Back it here:
Back M.van Gerwen to beat G.Durrant for a 3/10 stake at 2.20 with Betfair
Back him here:
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