The leading invitation event on the darts calendar, the Premier League Darts, begins another season on Thursday night as nine hopefuls start out with a common goal – to make it to the o2 Arena in May for a shot at the overall glory in this lucrative competition.
Michael van Gerwen once again did just that last year when he waltzed to a fourth successive title and he’ll be out to complete the five-timer. Eight men will be looking to deny him while nine others get their chance to showcase their talents on the big stage as the contenders are back again.
Recent Winners
2019 – Michael van Gerwen
2018 – Michael van Gerwen
2017 – Michael van Gerwen
2016 – Michael van Gerwen
2015 – Gary Anderson
2014 – Raymond van Barneveld
2013 – Michael van Gerwen
2012 – Phil Taylor
2011 – Gary Anderson
2010 – Phil Taylor
The Format
We have the same schedule as the one which was used last year. Nine men will compete in the tournament itself and in the first half of the campaign one of the nine ‘contenders’ will take to the stage each week to show off their talents. They can’t accumulate points in the events but the official nine will get points they achieve against them. At the end of the ninth night the player who is bottom of the table will be eliminated.
After that the eight men will play each other for a second time with the top four at the end of the regular campaign heading to the o2 Arena in London for Finals Night, where the two semi-finals and final will be played out. All regular season matches will be the best of 12 legs. The format increases to the best of 19 for the semi-finals and then up again to the best of 21 to crown our champion in May.
The Field
Once again the top four in the PDC Order of Merit gain automatic qualification into this lucrative tournament which means that Michael van Gerwen, Peter Wright, Gerwyn Price and Michael Smith were invited into the event by right. They were joined by five wildcard picks and they are the former champion Gary Anderson, UK Open winner Nathan Aspinall, former BDO world champion Glen Durrant, former PDC world champion Rob Cross and the multi-time TV event winner Daryl Gurney.
We will see nine contenders over the first nine nights of the tournament. They begin with ‘The Highlander’ John Henderson before the only woman in the event takes to the stage in the form of Fallon Sherrock. Jonny Clayton will greet the stage in Cardiff while it is William O’Connor in Dublin. World Youth champion Luke Humphries has the invite in Exeter while former PDC player Stephen Bunting gets the gig in Liverpool. It will be Chris Dobey in Newcastle and then the Dutch pair of Jeffrey de Zwaan and Jermaine Wattimena will grace the two evenings in Rotterdam.
Market Leaders
Michael van Gerwen is the 11/10 favourite to keep hold of the crown this season. It is hard to believe that he won’t make the top four so then it is all about whether he is good enough to win the two matches at the o2. He hasn’t been at his best recently but it is hard to go against him. I’ve no massive interest in sitting on an 11/10 shot for the best part of four months though so while he’s the most likely winner I’ll let him do so if he’s good enough.
The world champion Peter Wright is on something of a roll right now. Not only did the former finalist win at Alexandra Palace, but he followed that up with the title at The Masters last weekend. He is clearly playing his best ever darts at the minute and over 16 weeks it is hard to see him not being in the top four too. At 11/2, Snakebite offers up a better value option than MVG but whether he can be trusted to not chop and change all the while is another thing.
Gerwyn Price goes into the tournament with a massive reputation but he has never made it out of the group stage before so whether you can justify a 7/1 punt on him as a result of that remains to be seen. The rankings will tell you he’s the third best player in the world so on that he should reach the semi-finals this time around, but he just misses too many doubles under pressure for my liking. He’ll also have to battle crowds for much of the season too which isn’t ideal.
Gary Anderson is the only other man in the field apart from Michael van Gerwen who has won this tournament and he is 12/1 to do it again. He hasn’t really been a factor of world darts since he withdrew from this event due to injury a year ago, but in a tournament that is really all about being one of the four best men in it for 15 weeks and then having a special night, it would be hard to write him off completely. It is 16/1 bar that quartet.
Outright Betting
It is Gary Anderson who floats my boat for an outright bet in this tournament. There were enough signs in The Masters last weekend to suggest that the Scottish star is making good progress in his return from that injury which hampered him so much last year. He has already spoken about concerns over his world ranking and how he’s going to target a few European Tour events this year so week on week I expect him to get better.
Anderson is a class act. There is a case to be made that when he is at his absolute best he is unbeatable and with three or four months regular action I would expect him to be peaking when the business end of this tournament comes around. Anderson is surely too good not to make the top four and if he’s at the o2 he’ll be going off a quarter of the price we can get right now. His contender, Luke Humphries, is the third lowest ranked player in the field and that match will be at Exeter so the crowd won’t be much of an issue. There is so much going for Anderson that he has to be backed at 12/1.
Relegation
It might be that for the first nine weeks of the competition the focus will be on the bottom end of the table, where four men look to have genuine issues avoiding relegation. The bookmakers suggest that Daryl Gurney, Glen Durrant, Michael Smith and Nathan Aspinall will all struggle this term. I’m prepared to rule Smith out based on his scoring but the other three could really be fighting it out.
I’m going to leave Durrant off the list for a couple of reasons. He is extremely solid and he could pinch a load of draws and narrow wins when his opponent goes missing on some doubles. He also has Fallon Sherrock as his contender which in theory is the one to have. Gurney is a live runner but I fear a bit for Nathan Aspinall, not that I don’t rate him because I do, but he’s a debutant and this thing is a brutal gig. He had a taste of it as a contender last year but lost 7-2 to Michael Smith and of all the players in the field his scoring power could be considered the weakest. We’ve seen more established players than Aspinall struggle in this so the 6/1 on the youngster being relegated feels the right bet to me.
Most 180s
Nine of the best scorers in the world are on show in this competition so one of the most competitive markets for the tournament is the one for which player will hit the most 180s. Michael van Gerwen is the favourite but given that he is using new darts these days and switches to the treble 19 so often I can’t possibly be having him. I would have Peter Wright down as my favourite but the way he is playing he could have a few one-sided matches which lack legs.
Gary Anderson didn’t play in this tournament last year but only Daryl Gurney outscored him the year before and I think the 10/1 the Scot hits the most 180s here is well worth taking. I’ve highlighted that I believe that he is coming back to his best and at The Masters recently he hit 16 in his three matches which was the most of anyone other than the two finalists. We know the scoring exploits of Anderson, and if I’m right that he makes the playoffs he’ll have further scoring options on four of the field. Double figures just looks too big to me.
Tips
Back G.Anderson to win Premier League Darts (e/w) for a 2/10 stake at 13.00 with Betfair (1/3 1-2)
Back him here:
Back N.Aspinall to be relegated for a 2/10 stake at 7.00 with William Hill
Back him here:
Back G.Anderson Most Tournament 180s (inc playoffs) for a 1/10 stake at 11.00 with 888sport
Back him here:
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