The Premier League Darts season plays behind closed doors for hopefully this last time this term on Friday evening when the eight players are back for another night of pulsating action in the race for the top four.
Those in the top four will be looking to consolidate their position while those looking on from the outside will be out for the win which will get them in a decent position for when the crowds return later in the month.
Peter Wright vs Jose de Sousa
The opening match of the night sees two players who are having very different weeks so far battling it out when Peter Wright takes on Jose de Sousa in what might be the most important match of the night given the positions of the two players.
Successive defeats have seen Wright drop to the bottom of the table and he is now three points behind de Sousa who is in fourth going into the evening. De Sousa has picked up three points this week which should have been four had he not bungled three darts to beat James Wade on Thursday evening. I said having been on the wrong end of that failure that I wasn’t going to trust de Sousa again when he throws second but I can’t go along with that because Wright looked like he was nursing an injury on Thursday. He hasn’t played well all week anyway so I will once again trust the scoring power of de Sousa to get the job done here.
Michael van Gerwen vs James Wade
The pick of the matches on the final night of the week is the second one of the evening as Michael van Gerwen takes on James Wade in a battle of the man who is determined to reach the top of the table and one pushing hard to get into the top four.
Van Gerwen has played well this week and has won both his matches and another one here will complete a very acceptable few days for him, as well as consolidate his semi-final hopes. Wade won the reverse meeting between these two though so he isn’t likely to make things easy for van Gerwen and he’ll be looking to build on a creditable draw with de Sousa on Thursday night, one which was achieved from 6-2 behind. I am going with my instinct of not getting involved in MVG matches until he has shown a run of consistency so I’ll sit this one out.
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Jonny Clayton vs Nathan Aspinall
The closest match of the evening could be the third one of the night where the table topper Nathan Aspinall goes up against the man who is probably still the leading player of 2021 in Jonny Clayton despite his loss to van Gerwen on Thursday evening.
Both these men go into this match off the back of a defeat on Thursday after Aspinall was beaten by Van den Bergh on Thursday so it will be interesting to see who bounces back the best here. Although Aspinall lost, he averaged 103 in being beaten so it wasn’t as though he played badly or anything like that. Clayton wasn’t as good against MVG so he has something to find but he certainly has it in him to keep this close and feed on any mistakes so I’m happy to leave this one alone as well.
Dimitri Van den Bergh vs Gary Anderson
The final match behind closed doors is a repeat of the World Matchplay final from last year as Dimitri Van den Bergh takes on the man he beat to win his first major title in that match in the form of Gary Anderson.
Despite winning on Thursday evening, Van den Bergh has dropped down to third in the table on leg difference so he could do with keeping winning here just to maintain his position in the upper echelons of the table. Anderson took advantage of a bad day at the office for Peter Wright on Thursday night and another win here will catapult him right among the mix for the semi-finals when the final week of the tournament comes along. Anderson quietly averaged well over 100 on Thursday so this one could go any way. I’m happy to leave this alone too.
Tips
WON – Back J.de Sousa to beat P.Wright for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Paddy Power
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