The opening night of the new Premier League Darts season takes place at the P&J Live Arena in Aberdeen on Thursday evening, with the nine players involved in the event getting their campaigns underway.
The highlight of the first night is the repeat of the World Championship final as Michael van Gerwen takes on Peter Wright while the home crowds will be eager to see the contender John Henderson in action on the big stage once again.
Michael Smith vs Glen Durrant
The first match of the season sees the man who narrowly lost out in the final of The Masters last weekend taking on one of two debutants in the field as Michael Smith takes on Glen Durrant, for whom this is a big night given his rapid rise in the last 15 months or so.
All eyes will be on Smith here to see how he backs up that agonising loss to Peter Wright when he missed a series of match darts to win The Masters on Sunday, and if there is any hangover from that then Durrant is the ideal man to take advantage. If Durrant was a seasoned campaigner in this event I would back him but this is as big a night for him as it is for Smith so the right thing to do is to take a watching brief and assess the two ahead of next week.
Gary Anderson vs Daryl Gurney
It could be that the most entertaining match of the five on the opening night of the tournament comes in the second game onto the stage as our outright pick Gary Anderson goes up against the former World Grand Prix winner Daryl Gurney for two early points.
Gurney has gone very quiet on the TV in recent times and he’ll need to come out of that hole pretty soon if he is to be a proper feature this season, while Anderson looks to be getting better with every outing he has after his back issues of last year. In front of a home crowd Anderson will be confident of winning this but Gurney is the archetypal spoiler in this event. That said he just doesn’t look to be playing well enough. Anderson was buoyant about his form over the weekend and can win this home game.
Bet on the Premier League Darts with Boylesports and get double winnings as a free bet on ALL markets if the final checkout is 100+! All customers! Click the image above to bet on this fantastic offer! 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Aware.
Michael van Gerwen vs Peter Wright
The heavyweight contest of the first evening comes in the third match of the night where Michael van Gerwen takes on Peter Wright in what is a repeat of that wonderful World Championship final from last month.
Wright won on that occasion and followed it up with a win in The Masters at the weekend whereas van Gerwen lost in the first round and really didn’t look great with it, missing a series of doubles in a loss to Jonny Clayton. Van Gerwen is playing with new darts at the minute having changed manufacturer after the World Championship which could have been a factor in his poor performance. There was certainly nothing wrong with the way Wright played in that event with four averages in excess of 95. Van Gerwen will want his revenge here but if I was betting I’d be going with Wright draw no bet as a value poke. There are better bets on the evening however.
Nathan Aspinall vs John Henderson
The penultimate match of the night is sure to get the Aberdeen crowd rocking as the debutant Nathan Aspinall meets the contender John Henderson in a match which is pretty big for the Englishman as he looks to get a foothold in the campaign.
Henderson has good memories of being a contender in this event last year. He drew 6-6 with a 97.38 average and if he plays up to that level here he is going to be hard to beat. Aspinall was also a contender last year but when down 7-2 to Michael Smith which isn’t a memory he’ll want to repeat here. Aspinall is in by right this year which makes him a worthy favourite but on his debut night as an official entrant against a huge crowd cheering for the other man he looks plenty short enough to swerve to me.
Gerwyn Price vs Rob Cross
The final match of the night sees the World Championship semi-finalist Gerwyn Price taking on the man who almost topped the table last season and was eventually beaten in the final in the form of Rob Cross, with two early points on the line.
He might have gone well in this tournament last year but Rob Cross has gone missing since he won the European Championship. He lost in the last 16 of the Players Championship and the first match in both the World Championship and The Masters. The common factor in all three outings was that he was heavily beaten too, averaging less than 90 in his last two defeats. Price would have been disappointed to lose to Gary Anderson in the fashion he did at the weekend but he averaged 99 in a 10-2 loss so he just ran into a bit of a blitz. He looks to be playing much the better of the two here and looks value at a shade under even money.
Tips
WON – Back G.Anderson to beat D.Gurney for a 4/10 stake at 2.15 with Betfair
Back him here:
Back G.Price to beat R.Cross for a 4/10 stake at 1.95 with William Hill
Back him here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2020
